August 20, 2019

Dear Presidents' Alliance Member,
We write to share some immediate actions for you to consider taking and key dates for campus planning—all related to supporting Dreamers and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients on your campus communities. With the second anniversary of the DACA rescission coming up and the fight for Dreamers moving to the Supreme Court, there are a number of ways colleges and universities can engage. Below we provide an overview of actions to consider and more detail on key items further below.

Participate in a Telephonic Briefing on DACA . Participate in a call about DACA, the Supreme Court cases, and the Alliance’s amicus brief September 10, 2019 at 4PM EST | 1 PM PST . RSVP for the briefing using this link . Read more on this briefing, including speakers and content, below.

Join DACA Amicus Brief. Consider signing your institution onto a higher education amicus brief to support DACA before the Supreme Court. 

  • Read this one pager providing background on the brief, the legal arguments, and why institutions should join the brief.
  • Sign on your institution to join the brief (to indicate your interest) by using this link. The deadline to sign on your institution is September 18, 2019.
  • The Alliance, in collaboration with Bruce Spiva at Perkins Coie, will submit the higher education institution amicus brief by October 4, 2019 and provide resources, sample social media, and template statements for signatories to distribute and utilize.

Send a Message to Students and Alumni. September 5, 2019 marks the two-year anniversary of the administration’s decision to rescind DACA . With the uncertainty around DACA as high as ever, it may be helpful to organize and plan events on this date and send a message to students and alumni to encourage DACA renewals and information regarding financial resources. 

Consider sharing a message of support and acknowledging the anxiety immigrant students may feel while reaffirming your institution’s support for DACA students. Please also see the end of this update for more information and details regarding DACA renewal. If your institution does not offer financial support for renewal fees, please consider sharing these resources from our partners:


I Stand With Immigrants Day of Action . Last year, over 100 schools across the country participated in this day of action , scheduled for October 22, 2019 , which is geared for student groups and colleges and universities to show their support for dreamers and immigrants. Consider partnering with student groups on your campus. For information on signing your institution up, click here. We ask that you consider having actions on this day and publicizing the day of action on social media.

SCOTUS Oral Argument for DACA . SCOTUS will hold oral arguments on DACA in Washington, D.C. on November 12, 2019 .On this date and the Alliance. Partners, students, and presidents who are coming to Washington, D.C. for oral arguments or the events around them should email info@presidentsalliance.org to be connected to other partners and activities in our nation’s capital. Partners such as United We Dream and FWD.us will organize students seeking to attend and the Alliance is happy to connect our members and students to these and other efforts.

Finally, this fall, the Alliance will produce and share a variety of helpful resources for campuses, including FAQs for tuition and financial aid policies at pubic and private institutions, and resources to help campuses admit, fund, and support undocumented graduate and professional students. We look forward to sharing these materials with you soon. If you have specific questions or need technical assistance, please contact us. 

Thank you for your support.
 
Miriam Feldblum, Executive Director, and Jose Magaña-Salgado, Director of Policy and Communications
Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration
You’re Invited to a Briefing on the DACA Amicus
We write to invite you to join a telephonic briefing on September 10, 2019 at 4pm EST | 1PM PST hosted by the Presidents’ Alliance and partners. The purpose of the briefing is to: (1) provide information about DACA; (2) discuss what is at stake in the SCOTUS DACA case; (3) outline the arguments to be presented in the amicus brief; and (4) provide information for institutions to join the brief. To RSVP to the briefing, use this link:


The following represent the speakers for the briefing:


For more information regarding joining the amicus brief and the form to sign-up, click here . The deadline to sign on to the amicus brief is September 25, 2019 . Also see this one pager that provides an overview of the DACA amicus brief and reasons for your institution to join. For an overview of the DACA litigation, see this resource by the National Immigration Law Center.
Have DACA Students? Consider Passing This Survey Along
Do you work with Dreamers or know someone who has DACA? If so, our partners need your help. Along with and Professor Tom Wong of the University of California, San Diego, United We Dream, and the National Immigration Law Center, the Center for American Progress has launched the fifth annual DACA survey to learn more about the impacts of the DACA program on beneficiaries and communities. This survey is for anyone who currently has DACA, anyone who has ever held DACA, or a DACA-eligible individual who has been unable to apply due to the program’s rescission.

If you have DACA recipients on your campus, we encourage you to consider sharing this survey with them. The results will be utilized by the Alliance and partners to continue to defend DACA in front of the Supreme Court. 


Please note that any information submitted through the survey will be entirely confidential. This means that published findings will not contain any personal identifiable information. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to cflores@americanprogress.org . The deadline to complete the survey is August 30, 2019 .
Don’t Forget: DACA Renewal is Still Available!
As a result of multiple court injunctions, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) continues to accept DACA renewals. Organizations that wish to support the DACA Renewal Fund led by United We Dream, FWD.us, and other partners may do so at this link . We also encourage you to share this video from FWD.us that provides information for DACA recipients seeking to learn more about renewal and the ongoing litigation. Finally, our partners are the Center for American Progress released a new analysis of USCIS data regarding DACA renewals and forthcoming expirations. The report’s three key findings include:

  • The overall number of people who remain protected by DACA is down.
  • Most DACA recipients’ applications are approved, but applicants are waiting longer before applying.
  • More than 100,000 DACA recipients still need to renew their protections before the end of the calendar year.

We also share the following sample tweets that your institution can use in sharing this information.

  • Nearing the second anniversary of the rescission of #DACA, a new @amprog analysis finds that more than 100,000 DACA recipients still need to renew their protections before the end of the calendar year. Read more here: https://ampr.gs/2MTow3i
  • NEW! @amprog analysis examines the latest trends and number of #DACA renewals. "More than 100,000 DACA recipients still need to renew their protections before the end of the calendar year, more than one-third of whom hold DACA that expires in October." https://ampr.gs/2MTow3i