Statement from Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez on the 10th Anniversary of DACA

"As we mark the 10th anniversary of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), an executive action signed by President Barack Obama on June 15, 2012, we reflect on the ways this landmark program has positively impacted 700,000 undocumented immigrants who were brought into the country as children, including many thousands of college students at CUNY and other institutions. Yet we must acknowledge many young people raised in this nation still live in fear of deportation and can't legally work in their communities.

"CUNY takes great pride in its strong advocacy for undocumented immigrants and Dreamers, along with the fact that so many leading advocates in our community are DACA recipients themselves. These leaders include Cesar Vargas, the first openly undocumented person licensed to practice law in New York, whose advocacy while a student at CUNY helped lead to DACA's creation. When the Trump Administration later attempted to rescind DACA, CUNY was prominently represented in the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that successfully preserved the program's protections, with Cesar's brother Carlos Vargas and two other CUNY students serving as named plaintiffs in the consolidated cases that were considered by the court.

"As I said at the time: CUNY doesn't regard the protection of undocumented immigrants as a political issue; for us, it's personal. That is why, when we launched the Chancellor's Emergency Relief Fund in the summer of 2020, at the height of the first COVID wave, we prioritized undocumented students who were initially denied emergency financial assistance by the federal government.

"As part of the University's dedication to our students, regardless of citizenship status, we offer myriad resources to help undocumented students fund their education, navigate legal challenges and access public resources. Just last month, we announced the expansion of services for immigrant students, including the creation of a central position to coordinate supports system-wide. For 25 years, CUNY Citizenship Now! has been providing free, high-quality, confidential immigration law services to individuals and families, the largest university-based program of its kind in the nation. CUNY was the first university to partner with TheDream.US, the nation's largest college access and success program. The program began in 2014 with 29 students from three CUNY community colleges and has since awarded more than 8,750 scholarships to college students across the country, including from all 18 two- and four-year CUNY colleges.

"DACA has largely been successful in providing opportunities for scholars who demonstrated boundless potential. At CUNY, these include Rhodes Scholarship recipient Devashish (Dave) Basnet, an extraordinary student and leader who graduated from Hunter College last week, and Hina Naveed, a graduate of CUNY Law and the College of Staten Island who was hailed an "immigrant healthcare hero" by U.S. Senator Dick Durbin.

"Even with their great successes and those of many others, we remain mindful of DACA's limitations and of the many undocumented immigrants who are left unprotected despite their innumerable contributions to our city, state and nation. Many undocumented students who are graduating from CUNY this month, including aspiring teachers and nurses, and were not registered in DACA before the program's enrollment was closed, are unable to work legally. They deserve to pursue their professional dreams and contribute to our region's economic resurgence. Our country's future depends on their success yet partisan gridlock is leaving our brightest minds behind. We again call on our lawmakers to keep working to provide the path to U.S. citizenship that all DACA recipients and undocumented youth who call this country home have more than earned."

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