June 22, 2020 – I am grateful and relieved that the Supreme Court issued a stay on President Trump’s decision to block DACA. It allows some breathing room for Dreamers who were brought here as children and were courageous enough to come forward and identify themselves to the authorities and claim their rights as members of our society.
This victory is temporary and partial. No one knows what comes next, but we do know that the struggle for the rights of immigrants here in the United States is not over. Family members of Dreamers, as well as immigrant rights advocates, have been targeted with deportation. Children are still being separated from their parents. Asylum seekers are still not being given their rights. And as close as Yuba County Jail in Marysville, which contracts with ICE, immigrants are being held in close, confined conditions, risking COVID 19 infection and spread. It is the last immigration detention center in Northern California.
The Supreme Court decision is good for us all. It indicates at least some degree of compassion in this time of systemic violence against people of color. It’s time to stand up for what is right.
Rev. Sharon Delgado