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For Immediate Release: August 28^th, 2017

NALCAB Urges Congress to Defend DACA Program

“The DACA Program is just economic common sense.” – Noel Poyo, Executive Director of NALCAB

SAN ANTONIO, TX – National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders calls on Members of Congress to defend the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which provides the opportunity to work and attend school without living in fear of deportation to immigrants who arrived in this country as children without documentation.  Over the course of its five-year history, DACA has provided a path for hundreds of thousands of young immigrants to contribute to our country.  These are people who have lived in the United States since they were children.

DACA faces an uncertain fate as President Trump has suggested that he will end the program.  NALCAB vigorously opposes any move by this Administration to end or curtail the DACA program and urges Members of Congress to take legislative action to protect the DACA program and make it permanent.

NALCAB Executive Director Noel Poyo stated: “The DACA Program is just economic common sense.  DACA recipients are important economic contributors and this program unlocks their economic potential for our country.”  The Institute on Tax and Economic Policy estimates that the 1.3 million young undocumented immigrants enrolled or immediately eligible for DACA contribute an estimated $2 billion a year in state and local taxes. Continuing the DACA program would increase estimated state and local revenue by $425 million, bringing the total contribution to $2.45 billion. Repealing the temporary legal status and work authorizations permitted by DACA would reduce estimated state and local revenues by nearly $800 million, and drop the total contributions to just over $1.2 billion annually.

“It is hard to understand the meanness of spirit that motivates any policymaker to end a program that provides the opportunity for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness to people who have broken no laws and contribute significantly to our economy.  Prosecuting children years later for the decisions of their parents is un-American.” Poyo concluded.

NALCAB calls on its members and partners to take immediate action to defend the DACA Program, including by communicating with members of Congress.

NALCAB works with a national network of local non-profit organizations to build assets and increase economic opportunity for Latino families, communities and organizations. The organization represents and serves a geographically and ethnically diverse group of more than 130 organizations that include real estate developers, business lenders, economic development corporations, credit unions, and community development financial institutions (CDFIs), operating in more than 40 states and DC.