SANTA MONICA—The city of Santa Monica has joined an amicus brief with 26 other cities across the nation in support of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
“While the federal government turns its back on hardworking citizens, Santa Monica will continue to fight for our resident and student Dreamers,” said Mayor Ted Winterer.
Santa Monica has joined a list of cities, including Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York. The city is taking a legal stand against the Department of Homeland Security, which declared the end of DACA in September. The current White House administration has laid out steps to be followed after the program ends, where immigrants currently protected by the DACA program may be subject to deportation.
The amicus brief lists reasons to continue the program noting “foreign-born residents make up almost half of Los Angeles’ workforce; they contribute over $3 billion in state and local taxes each year; they own businesses that generate $3.5 billion in annual income for city residents; and, they have local spending power of almost $30 billion a year.”
“Eliminating DACA will negatively impact any and all American citizens living in Los Angeles by removing tens of thousands of these foreign-born workers, business owners and taxpayers from the city’s economy.”
“Dreamers came to the United States through no choice of their own, and we are better for the contributions they make to our schools and our community every day. They deserve more than an arbitrary termination of a program essential to allowing them to stay in the country we all love,” said Santa Monica City Attorney Lane Dilg.
Besides Los Angeles, the only other city in Southern California to join Santa Monica in the amicus brief is the city of West Hollywood.
