July 29, 2020 Prayer Partner: Pray and Act for Dreamers

For many Dreamers – young people brought to the U.S. as children – the past six weeks have been an emotional roller coaster. On June 18, the Supreme Court ruled in such a way that kept DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) in place, at least for the moment. But the court also made clear that the executive branch has the authority to terminate DACA, if it follows the appropriate process, and various news reports indicated this re-rescission was forthcoming.

Then, yesterday, another swerve: the Department of Homeland Security released a new memo stating that it will allow current DACA recipients to continue to renew their work authorization, though it is reducing renewal validity from two years to one year, while it reviews its next steps on how to proceed with DACA. The memo also explicitly disallows new applications, which (unless another court intervenes) will particularly impact the tens of thousands of Dreamers who have reached (and continue to reach) the minimum age to request DACA – 15 years old – in the years since new applications were halted in 2017.

For the hundreds of thousands of young people whose work authorization – and thus, livelihood – and presence in this country is tied to DACA, this is a time of great uncertainty.

At the Evangelical Immigration Table, we’ve long believed that this situation merits a permanent solution, which only Congress can provide. Our leaders have sent a letter to Members of Congress asking them to act on a bipartisan basis to provide Dreamers the opportunity to eventually apply for citizenship. If you’ve not already done so, you can add your name to that letter, and we’ve also updated a tool to help you call your Members of Congress. Proverbs 3:27 tells us: “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act.” In a representative form of government, we all have the power to send a letter and make a few phone calls.

But we also have access to someone with greater authority than any governmental official: God invites us to present our requests to him. So, in this season of great uncertainty, we’d like to ask you to pray for Dreamers as well as for elected officials. To help you, we’ve worked with our partners at Voices of Christian Dreamers to update this 5-day prayer guide.

Would you commit to praying and acting for a solution for Dreamers over the next five days?

In Christ,

Matthew Soerens

National Coordinator, Evangelical Immigration Table