Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel joined a coalition of 20 attorneys general, led by California and New York, in an amicus brief pushing back against the ongoing effort led by Texas to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. In the friend-of-the-court brief filed before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, the coalition reiterates the critical importance of DACA for states across the country and the hundreds of thousands of Dreamers and their families who depend on the program, including the?more than 6,542 Michiganders who have directly benefitted from DACA.
“Ending DACA would be detrimental to thousands of Michigan residents and their families,” Nessel said. “Further, a DACA reversal would hurt the U.S. economy by causing this country to lose millions of highly skilled workers and entrepreneurs. Being meaningful contributors to this country is the only life they know, and they should be allowed to continue to do so. I stand firmly with my colleagues in asking the court to uphold this crucial legislation.”
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 835,000 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 enroll in colleges and universities; start businesses that help improve our economy; serve in the military; and give back to our communities as teachers, medical professionals, engineers, and entrepreneurs. These contributions became even more evident during the COVID-19 pandemic as tens of thousands of DACA recipients continued to serve their communities as essential workers and frontline healthcare professionals.
DACA plays a vital role in supporting our economies at the national, state, and local level. 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 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. It would also lead to an estimated loss of $33.1 billion in Social Security contributions and $7.7 billion in Medicare contributions — funds that are critical to ensuring the financial health of these national programs upon which people across the country rely. In addition, the spending power of DACA recipients — estimated at $25.3 billion annually — also contributes substantially to the overall economic health of the nation. DACA recipients own homes, make mortgage payments, own small businesses, and help support the creation of new jobs.
In the amicus brief, the coalition reiterates that:
• DACA recipients are vital to amici states’ communities, public universities, and economies.
• DACA enhances public safety and reduces the strain on social safety net programs.
• Amici states have structured their laws and regulations in reliance on DACA and the benefits it confers.
• Abrupt termination of DACA would disrupt and harm DACA recipients and amici states.
• Any remedy in this case must account for the significant reasonable reliance interests of DACA recipients and their states and communities.
In filing the amicus brief, AG Nessel joins the attorneys general of California, New York, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin.
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