By: EFE ~ November 19, 2019
"There is a 'satanic' intention to create a false narrative about the 'dreamers', it is a typical strategy of President (Donald) Trump to disqualify his opponents," the professor Armando Vásquez-Ramos at California State University Long Beach told Efe Tuesday.
The professor, who promoted the first program of international studies for "dreamers" to travel to their countries of origin, warns that in the coming months the "dreamers" will face a smear campaign by the Trump Government and its allies.
The escalation of the attacks increased with a recent report from the Immigration and Citizenship Service (USCIS) detailing the history of arrests of undocumented immigrants who had requested DACA.
According to USCIS, about 110,000 of the 889,000 amparo applicants (12%) had arrest records.
The figure includes migrants who were denied the benefit and does not establish whether they were found guilty of these arrests, which include traffic stops and others related to immigration.
The lawyer and "dreamer" Luis Cortés stressed to Efe that the statistics published by the government agency on DACA applicants "are misleading and are intended to justify the hateful comments of President Trump."
Last week Trump heated the debate with a message on his Twitter account in which he said that "many of the people with DACA are no longer so young and far from being 'little angels."
The outgoing USCIS director, Ken Cuccinelli, defended the publication of data by arguing in a statement that, as DACA remains the subject of public debate and ongoing litigation, they are committed to "ensuring transparency and that the American people are informed about who receives DACA ".
"The DHS (Department of Internal Security) tries to describe the beneficiaries of DACA as criminals as a pretext to end the protection," said Cortes, who is part of the team of defense lawyers for the protection against the Supreme Court, which is expected to issue its ruling in the first half of 2020.
The lawyer stressed that the "dreamers" must pass a rigorous background check, which, he said, is superior to those who are subjected to those who buy weapons.
Meanwhile, Angelica Salas, director of the Immigrant Human Rights Coalition (CHIRLA), said "USCIS is playing with numbers and words: an arrest is not a conviction. In this country, one is innocent until convicted. in a court of law. "
The conservative group Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), based in Washington, also decided to enter the DACA debate this week.
In an analysis published Monday, the group says that more than 1.1 million undocumented youth are now eligible to benefit from DACA.
"As these young illegal immigrants increase in number, the likelihood and scope of future DACA programs will also increase," this organization said in a statement that promotes greater control over illegal immigration.
Vásquez Ramos warns that the figures could be higher, even reaching more than 2.5 million undocumented immigrants who could benefit in total from the protection if it remains.
"They want to use those numbers against DACA, but we can also use it in favor, because legalizing these immigrants would help the country's economy," the academic insisted.
Amid the tug of war between the Trump Government and the "dreamers," USCIS took another blow to the dreamers by raising DACA renewal rates from $ 495 to $ 765.
The increases, which cover another series of requests, are still in the public comment phase.
Both Cortés and Vásquez Ramos predict that the attacks will continue over the next few months, while the Supreme Court issues its ruling.
The highest judicial body must define in the coming months if it supports the decision of the Government of Donald Trump to end this plan, announced in June 2012 by the then president, Barack Obama (2009-2017), or if it extends its validity in favor of thousands of immigrants who were brought by their parents as children.
The legal actions against Trump to eliminate DACA do not seem to end, and Vásquez Ramos said they plan to bring legal action against the government for not respecting due process to the requests for humanitarian permits that the program has made to USCIS.
Source: EFE ~ November 19, 2019
