For Immediate Release:
April 13, 2018
PARTNERSHIP FOR EDUCATIONAL JUSTICE FIGHTING FOR DREAMERS
New York, NY – Partnership for Educational Justice (PEJ) this week submitted an amicus brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in support of the plaintiffs in the DACA lawsuits New York v. Trump and Vidal v. Nielsen. The filing is part of PEJ’s ongoing commitment to the students impacted by President Trump’s rescission of the DACA program.
PEJ has partnered with four other groups in the 50CAN network – including DelawareCAN: The Delaware Campaign for Achievement Now; HawaiiKidsCAN; NewMexicoKidsCAN; and Virginia Excels – to submit a series of briefs detailing the irreparable educational harms that will be experienced by students.
This week’s brief includes new research from a February 2018 study that found “that the implementation of DACA significantly improved attendance and graduation rates among Hispanic high school students, with the gap in high school completion between undocumented Hispanic young people and their citizen peers shrinking by 40 percent. Moreover, DACA led to a 22 percent increase in college attendance rates among Hispanic high school graduates.”[1]
“Current research clearly shows the benefits that DACA has had in improving education for children in need. These children’s futures are depending on the courts to protect their rights, and ultimately, on Congress to implement a permanent solution,” said Alissa Bernstein, Executive Director of Partnership for Educational Justice (PEJ).
PEJ’s full amicus brief can be found here. The law firm Cooley LLP provided pro bono representation for this amicus brief filing.
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is a policy created by President Barack Obama to help protect certain undocumented young people who came to the United States as children. After the Trump Administration announced that it would be phasing out the program, lawsuits were filed in federal courts in California and New York to stop the rescission from taking effect. If successful, the lawsuits will preserve the rights of the approximately 800,000 DACA grantees across the county who are covered by the program, and have been able to live, study and work in the United States without fear of arrest or deportation.
About Partnership for Educational Justice (PEJ)
PEJ pursues educational equity through legal action to improve the quality of public schools. PEJ utilizes a variety of legal actions to achieve its mission, including pursuing impact litigation, amicus brief filings, Freedom of Information Act requests, and other law-related avenues that seek to achieve meaningful reforms of education laws or policies that fail to prioritize students’ rights. PEJ is an affiliate of the national education nonprofit 50CAN: 50 State Campaign for Achievement Now, which advocates at the local level for a high-quality education for all kids, regardless of their address.
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Contact:
Maggie McKeon, 315.730.5101, Maggie@kpa.nyc
[1] Elira Kuka, Na’ama Shenhav, & Kevin Shih, Do Human Capital Decisions Respond to the Returns to Education? Evidence from DACA, National Bureau of Economic Research, 17 (Feb. 2018)