Our schools and our community are strengthened by our city's rich diversity, and DPS has always done everything we can to embrace and support all of our city's students, regardless of where they're from. We were the first school district in the nation to hire teachers under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA program, which was created by former President Obama in 2012 to provide legal protection for hundreds of thousands of undocumented young immigrants brought into the country as children.
In Denver, many of these childhood immigrants, known as "Dreamers," have attended DPS schools their entire lives or are DPS graduates who have built their lives in our community. These include highly skilled, very talented teachers in district classrooms. Many of these great educators are bilingual and can relate well to the challenges our students face.
But now the existence of the DACA program -- and the bright futures of these students and educators -- is being threatened.
President Trump, whose campaign promises included an end to DACA, is expected to announce changes to the program as early as today. A group of lawmakers is threatening to sue the federal government if the dismantling of DACA doesn't begin by Sept. 5.
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Salvador Hernandez
, a "Dreamer," speaks to the importance of DACA.
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We at DPS stand shoulder-to-shoulder with these children and families; we join their call for respect and appreciation for the contributions they make to our community; and we join other cities across this great country in resolute opposition to any effort to curtail the DACA program that would cruelly rip the American Dream from their grasp.
In a show of support for our Dreamers, DPS leaders and I stood on the steps of the Capitol this morning alongside Gov. John Hickenlooper, Colorado Speaker of the House and many of our young "Dreamers" to urge national leaders to support DPS students, families and educators and to fight back to keep DACA alive.
We know what a gift and asset DACA teachers are to our students and to our entire community. An end to DACA -- which would leave hundreds of thousands facing an uncertain future and possible deportation -- would be catastrophic for DPS and the city of Denver.
I ask President Trump and others in Washington to stand with our students, not against them.
Because we in DPS will never stop standing up for what's right for all of our kids.