LOS ANGELES, CA— On Saturday, October 26, volunteer immigration attorneys, policy experts, and Los Angeles Dreamers offered a legal clinic for eligible Dreamers who need to renew their DACA status, and answered questions on the latest news regarding the DACA case at the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court is slated to hear oral arguments on November 12, 2019, to determine if the Trump administration terminated the DACA program lawfully or not. As a result of the complex litigation in course, there is great confusion in the DACA community on whether it is still possible to renew DACA. The clinic served as an opportunity to spread the message that DACA renewals are still being accepted.

The clinic took place at the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA) where 42 people renewed their DACA status.

For the past two years, the Trump Administration has tried to end the DACA, an incredibly successful program that currently allows more than 700,000 hardworking young people to contribute more fully to our communities and our economy.

In California, there are about 223,000 DACA beneficiaries whose lives would be thrown into chaos if this program ends. DACA has allowed hundreds of thousands of young people to pursue higher education, buy homes and start businesses, advance their careers, and better provide for their families in the country they call home.

“This is as real as it gets for DACA families,” said Angelica Salas, CHIRLA executive director. “DACA is on life support and every one of us needs to fight for it. Whether we are moms of people with DACA, employers benefiting from their contribution, students who missed out because of President Trump’s actions, or DACA renewers, we all have a stake in this and a role to play.”

“We are mobilizing across California to Rise for DACA because this is the state with the largest number of DACAmented people,” said Rosa Barrientos, an organizer with CHIRLA who has DACA. “People like me are taking the reins to influence the politics around this case. They are walking out, talking to lawmakers, witnessing court proceedings, marching from state to state. We are awake, aware and watching.”

Background on DACA Renewals:

Despite the legal twists and turns challenging the DACA program, current DACA recipients are still able to renew their protections because of the incredible efforts of so many advocates and young people.

This past July, FWD.us launched the DACA Renewals Now campaign, a long-term educational campaign and resource drive to support the nearly 700,000 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients who are impacted by changes to the DACA program. The campaign, housed under Informed Immigrant and Inmigrante Informado, is helping to encourage and facilitate DACA renewals for Dreamers by driving donations to organizations working around renewals, raising public awareness, and partnering with organizations to offer other related services, such as renewal clinics.

The launch of the DACA Renewals Now campaign is FWD.us’ second DACA-related donations program. On June 28, FWD.us and GoFundMe announced a renewed partnership to boost donations to the Protect DACA Fund, a nationwide effort started in 2018 to provide support to Dreamers across the country.