For Immediate Release:
Friday, March 10, 2023
Contact: Nazneen Ahmed
919-716-0060
(RALEIGH) Attorney General Josh Stein today filed a friend-of-the-court brief pushing back against the ongoing, misguided effort led by Texas to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. North Carolina is home to approximately 24,000 DACA grantees who contribute to our economy and communities.
“Dreamers should be able to study, work, and contribute to our communities without fear of deportation – a right that the U.S. Supreme Court has reaffirmed,” said Attorney General Josh Stein. “I’ll continue to fight to protect Dreamers and their right to stay in the United States.”
DACA has allowed recipients to live, study, and work across the United States free from the fear of being forcibly separated from their families and communities. Since 2012, more than 825,000 young immigrants have been granted DACA protections after completing applications and passing a background check. Dreamers come from almost every country in the world, but many have never known any home other than the United States.
The program has enabled hundreds of thousands of grantees to enroll in colleges and universities, start businesses that strengthen our economy, serve in the military, and give back to our communities as teachers, medical professionals, engineers, and entrepreneurs. DACA recipients and their households are estimated to contribute approximately $9.5 billion in federal, state, and local taxes each year. A full rollback of DACA — as is being pushed for by Texas and its allies — is projected to result in a loss of an estimated $280 billion in national economic growth over the course of a decade.
In filing the amicus brief, Attorney General Stein joins the attorneys general of California, New York, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin.
A copy of the amicus brief is available here.
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