New Jersey will join fifteen other states in a lawsuit to block the Trump administration’s termination of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, Gov. Phil Murphy said today.
Murphy was joined at his announcement by Attorney General Gurbir Grewal and a group of DACA participants, including Parthiv Patel, the first dreamer to be admitted to the New Jersey Bar. Patel took his oath at the Murphy ceremony.
The Obama administration directed that undocumented youth be protected from deportation in 2012 – a move that allowed them to legally work in the United States.
New Jersey has 17,400 DACA recipients “whose lives hang in the balance and who are at risk of deportation until Congress finds a permanent legislative solution,” according to Erika Nava of New Jersey Policy Perspective (NJPP), a state-based think tank.
“New Jersey will stand with our 22,000 Dreamers and not allow for the hypocrisy of the Trump administration’s policies to strip away the rights of our residents,” \Murphy said. “Our participation in this lawsuit lets our Dreamers know that a road forward for them will always exist in New Jersey. President Trump and the administration need a clear message that we will continue to stand with our immigrant families.”
Amol Sinha, the Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s New Jersey office, says that ““No one should face barriers to serving the greater good because of where they were born.”
“Parthiv is a son of New Jersey, and his story fits squarely in the American Dream. While other forces in the country put obstacles in the path of talented, driven young Americans like Parthiv, New Jersey shows how much we benefit when we lift up each other’s dreams rather than thwart them,” Parthiv said. “I am honored to witness his admission to the practice of law in our home state and to call him a colleague.”