CTN Peer Mentor, Juan Carlos Cerda, was quoted in a press release issued by the American Business Immigration Coalition (ABIC), following the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) issuing of a final rule that aims to preserve and fortify the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which defers the deportation of and allows eligible undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States as children to access a renewable, two-year work permit. Members of ABIC’s leadership team and board of directors strongly called on Congress to provide a permanent solution and pathway to citizenship for the nation’s Dreamers.

“While we recognize DHS’s efforts to preserve and fortify the DACA program, we believe that this final rule is not enough to protect DACA recipients like me. This fall, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals will determine DACA’s future, and DACA recipients and our employers are once again grappling with the uncertainty inherent in this temporary program. Only Congress can avert the devastation that this Court ruling and a subsequent U.S. Supreme Court decision striking DACA would undoubtedly cause. Now is the time to build on the successes of DACA and pass bipartisan legislation that provides a path to citizenship to DACA recipients and other Dreamers,” commented Cerda, DACA recipient & ABIC Deputy Campaign Director.