Supreme Court Decision to Protect “Dreamers” Program

AG Nessel Celebrates Supreme Court Decision to Protect “Dreamers” Program

LANSING – Attorney General Dana Nessel issued a statement today following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to block the Trump administration’s attempt to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Without today’s ruling, the federal government would have put 669,000 undocumented young people who came to the U.S. as children at risk for deportation.

“I am delighted by the Supreme Court’s decision to block the Trump administration from ending DACA. The effort to end these protections is unconscionable and cruel,” Nessel said. “This is an important victory for the thousands of Dreamers who call Michigan home. For now, they can breathe a little easier without the threat of deportation from the only life they know, which is a life in America. I encourage Congress, however, to take on this fight and ensure that Dreamers across this nation ultimately have a clear path to citizenship.”

The DACA program allows recipients – better known as Dreamers – to go to work or school and live without fear of deportation while pursuing their dreams. Dreamers are often students and teachers, military service members, law enforcement officers, firefighters, health care workers, and child and elder care workers contributing to the economy and communities across the nation.

Michigan is home to approximately 13,000 residents eligible for deferred action under the DACA program and these state residents paid more than $23 million in state and local taxes, according to a September 2019 report from the Center for American Progress. In an effort to protect them, Nessel joined several states in filing a brief in the lawsuit against the federal government’s unlawful rescission of DACA in October.

A copy of today’s decision is available here.