This week the Trump administration moved to cancel the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. We call for Congress to preserve this program, which grants temporary work permits and lawful immigration presence to more than 800,000 young illegal immigrants who were brought to the United States as children.
Businesses in our membership, along with small businesses across the US, have been fueled and driven by immigrants. These are not just “dreamers”, these are hardworking Americans who pay their taxes and contribute their skills to the workforce.
We call for Congress to work toward a legislative solution against President Trump’s actions, which serve only to cut off opportunity for hundreds of thousands of young people who actively contribute to our country in so many way. Among these, we are aware that ending DACA would have drastic effects on the economy, including billions of dollars in losses for businesses across the U.S. As a trade association for hundreds of worker-owned cooperative businesses in this country, we cannot condone this baseless attack on the workers and small business owners who are critical to the strength of our economy and to building America’s future.
The USFWC pledges our support to work on finding an expeditious means of protection for DACA youth. In coordination with the Democracy at Work Institute, the USFWC compiled the Sanctuary Workplaces website which can aid in this challenging time. As a part of our commitment to hate-free workplaces and safe spaces in our communities, we encourage all immigrant workers and allies to inform themselves on how to extend protection and safety to all communities facing harassment and persecution in the workplace, including all people of color, immigrants, Muslims, women, transgender and nonbinary people, and people with disabilities.
To our members and all those affected by this reprehensible decision: we are still with you. We are committed to sharing resources to help in this time, starting with the following:
- Sanctuary Workplaces — our hate-free workplace resource website created in partnership with the Democracy at Work Institute, which we will be updating with information as it becomes available
- Here are five things to know about the announcement that DACA will be terminated
- Here’s a link to find local events organized to protect immigrant youth
We defend and lift up all communities under attack. We know that when one community is at risk, we are all at risk. We promote dignity, collective advocacy, and solidarity within and throughout worker cooperatives. We call on the U.S. government to put DACA youth, many of whom have only ever known the USA as their home, on the path to citizenship, and to do this for the benefit of our entire country.
