Washington, D.C. — TechNet President and CEO Linda Moore made the following statement regarding a Justice Department lawyer’s statement that new Deferred Action for Child Arrivals (DACA) applications are being “held” and “placed into a bucket.” In June, the Supreme Court ruled on this issue and left the program in place by holding that the administration could not arbitrarily end DACA.
“Last month, the Supreme Court made it clear that DACA could not be arbitrarily ended by the administration and left the program in place as originally constituted. Now, the administration says that new DACA applications are being “held” and “placed into a bucket” while they decide what to do with the program, defying two court rulings. This is unfair to those who are following the law and applying. DACA applicants should be able to presume their applications will get fair consideration instead of being stuck in interminable bureaucratic limbo.
The facts regarding Dreamers are undeniable: more than 70 percent are pursuing or have pursued a bachelors’ degree; more than 90 percent of DACA recipients are currently working, with more than 70 percent of those individuals on the payrolls of Fortune 500 companies; and more than 900 Dreamers serve our nation in the military. These young men and women are doing the right thing and applying to a program available to and designed for them. The administration should not drag its feet when it comes to the legal status of those who are doing exactly what our country asks: complying with the law. They deserve for their applications to be processed today in the same way applications were processed prior to the Supreme Court’s decision because no human being deserves to be put in a bucket.”