Commentary: ALBUQUERQUE—James Jimenez, executive director of New Mexico Voices for Children, issued the following statement regarding the decision by the Trump administration to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program:
“Immigrants come to America now for the same reason immigrants have been coming to America for centuries—opportunity. And like the immigrants who came before them, the vast majority of today’s immigrants are hard-working, law-abiding folks.
“Immigrants who arrived here as children are, for all intents and purposes, as American as those of us who were fortunate enough to be born here. They go to school with our kids, play soccer in the same leagues, and have the same hopes and fears. And, like all children, they also have unique talents and potential. In New Mexico, we have 6,800 young people registered in the DACA program. All our state’s children, no matter where they were born, deserve the opportunity to learn, grow and thrive. When every individual is able to reach their full potential, we all reap the benefits of a stronger more forward society. The investments we make today in our children are investments in our collective future.
“With the revocation of DACA, nationwide tens of thousands of children and youth and 6,800 in New Mexico are at risk of being ripped from the only home they have ever known that just isn’t right or fair.. Many will be sent to almost certain death. America has never been the kind of nation where we punish children for the faults of the parents. To become that nation now would mean a massive failure to live up to our great American values.”