City of Santa Monica Joins Amicus Brief to Halt DACA Termination
November 1, 2017 5:39 PM
SANTA MONICA, Calif. – The City of Santa Monica today joined a national coalition of 26 U.S. cities and counties in filing an amicus brief seeking to halt the termination of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Together, with cities including Los Angeles and New York, we are urging a nationwide injunction against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which would prevent DHS from ending the DACA program or using information obtained from DACA applicants for deportation proceedings.
“While the federal government turns its back on hardworking citizens, Santa Monica will continue to fight for our resident and student Dreamers,” said Mayor Ted Winterer.
The amicus brief states that local jurisdictions will suffer direct economic harm if DACA is rescinded due to the removal of hundreds of thousands of workers, business owners, and taxpayers from their respective economies. The brief also states that ending DACA will make communities less safe and would lead to DACA recipients being much less likely to report criminal activity to law enforcement out of fear of deportation.
This diverse multi-city and county coalition argues that in terminating DACA, DHS acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner, failing to comply with the requirements of the Administrative Procedures Act (APA). Neither the Attorney General nor DHS provided supportable rationale for their decision to terminate DACA. To the extent that they did cite reasons for ending the program, those reasons are disproven by clear evidence.
DACA was created by DHS in 2012 to allow undocumented individuals brought to the U.S. as children the opportunity “to come out of the shadows” and live, study and work openly in our country. Since obtaining deferred action, DACA recipients have made substantial contributions as business owners, educators, researchers, artists, journalists and civic leaders. Tens of thousands more DACA enrollees are attending our local schools, studying to become our newest medical professionals, educators, lawyers and entrepreneurs.
"Dreamers came to the United States through no choice of their own, and we are better for the contributions they make to our schools and our community every day," said City Attorney Lane Dilg. "They deserve more than an arbitrary termination of a program essential to allowing them to stay in the country we all love."
Jurisdictions joining the brief have more active DACA recipients collectively residing in their metro areas than the combined active DACA populations of 45 states.
The complete list of entities signing the brief is:
The City of Los Angeles, California; the City of Austin, Texas; the City of Boston, Massachusetts, the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts; the City of Chelsea, Massachusetts; the City of Chicago, Illinois; Cook County, Illinois; the City and County of Denver, Colorado; the District of Columbia; the City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii; the City of Houston, Texas; King County, Washington; the City of Minneapolis, Minnesota; the City of New York, New York; the City of Oakland, California; the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; the City of Portland, Oregon; the City of Providence, Rhode Island; the City of Sacramento, California; the City and County of San Francisco, California; the City of Somerville, Massachusetts; the City of Rochester, New York; the City of Santa Monica, California; the City of Seattle, Washington; the City of Tucson, Arizona; the City of West Hollywood, California; and the United States Conference of Mayors.
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