ATLANTA — A metro Atlanta organization is working to ensure the 20,000 DACA recipients in Georgia get the help they need in the wake of the appeals court's recent ruling.
A federal appeals court Wednesday ordered a lower court to review the Biden Administration's revisions of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The federal program prevents the deportation of immigrants brought to the United States as children.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled a federal district judge in Texas should review the program after the revisions that were adopted in August, leaving the DACA program - once again - in legal limbo and preventing new applicants.
The impact of the ruling is already being felt among the 600,000 DACA recipients in the U.S., including Georgia.
The Latino Community Fund is pressing Congress to pass legislation that would permanently help DACA recipients, dubbed Dreamers in the decade of the program's existence. Besides tackling policy change, LCF provides financial assistance to Dreamers who need help renewing their DACA status.
LCF Executive Director GG Pedraza said that though the program has been embattled in the courts, the ruling is ultimately a failure by Congress and calls on the community to hold their elected officials accountable.
"Documented, undocumented permanent legal resident - you can still keep elected officials accountable because they are supposed to represent you," Pedraza said. "So please call them; tell them how you feel about the families are going to be impacted, the jobs that are going to be lost, the mortgages that will be default on because they will have to leave."
Pedraza emphasized the DACA decision doesn't just impact those under the program but those who have benefitted from their work and contributions.
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