DEMAND THAT THE U.S. SUPREME COURT ORDER UPHOLDING DACA BE IMPLEMENTED AND CONDEMN DONALD TRUMP’S AUTHORITARIANISM

WHEREAS, President Donald Trump, Attorney General William Barr, and the Department of Homeland Security are in open contempt of the U.S. Supreme Court and in defiance of the mass anti-racist movement that has spread across the nation; and

WHEREAS, on June 20, the Supreme Court overturned Trump’s attempt to eliminate Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), declaring his action as “arbitrary and capricious,” and therefore lacking any legal status. The Supreme Court decision compelled the Trump administration to restore DACA to its pre-repeal status; and

WHEREAS, the Supreme Court decision is a victory for the movement that started in Minneapolis fighting for justice for George Floyd and all victims of racist police brutality, as well as a long-fought victory for the immigrant rights movement in which millions of undocumented American immigrants and their supporters took over the streets of cities across the nation. It was a victory for the American Federation of Teachers, which, in our support for DACA, stated “the young people covered by DACA are woven into our communities—learning in, working in, defending and contributing to the country that is their home”; and

WHEREAS, Trump and Homeland Security have now declared that the Trump administration will not accept new DACA applications and will only grant one-year extensions to current beneficiaries “on a case-by-case basis.” This will make it easier for Trump to deport DACA beneficiaries if he maintains power, since their status will expire sooner; and

WHEREAS, Trump’s policy is nothing less than brazen defiance of the Supreme Court’s ruling, which protected the rights of 700,000 immigrants, including AFT members, to live and work in the United States legally. By spurning this decision, Trump is openly establishing himself as a despot, ready to reject all democratic norms in pursuit of mobilizing his racist right-wing base, and consolidating a regime of tyranny that rejects all the historic rights and protections of the American people, including the right to elect its leaders:

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers demands the full restoration of DACA now in accordance with the Supreme Court’s ruling and demands of the immigrant rights, civil rights and labor movement; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT defends American democracy and condemns Donald Trump’s authoritarian contempt for the Supreme Court’s ruling that reinstated DACA.