Educators for Excellence Celebrates Supreme Court Decision on DACA

June 18 (New York) — Educators for Excellence (E4E), a teacher-led organization, celebrates the Supreme Court’s ruling today against the Trump Administration’s efforts to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, thereby ensuring nearly 800,000 Dreamers can continue to live and work in the United States without fear of deportation. 

“I am relieved for my students, and for so many like them across our country today,” said E4E member Ilona Nanay, Global History Teacher at Mott Hall V High School in the Bronx, New York. “As a result of the Supreme Court’s ruling, many of my students will no longer have to live in constant fear of deportation. While this decision is certainly a step in the right direction we still have a long way to go in ensuring the safety of our undocumented community members and their loved ones.”

“Dreamers are among our country’s best and brightest, studying for the future, working as teachers, doctors and nurses, and in so many other vital roles in our communities,” said Evan Stone, Co-Founder and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Educators for Excellence. “This is a hugely important step by the Supreme Court in affirming DACA today. Now it is up to Congress to make these protections for Dreamers more permanent by providing them with a clear path to citizenship, thereby ending decades of legal limbo for these promising young Americans.”

E4E members have long been strong advocates of DACA and the Dreamer students in their classrooms. In 2017, a group of nine classroom teachers led a campaign in which more than 1,200 E4E members signed a letter calling on President Trump and members of Congress to fulfill the promises made to undocumented students and families under DACA. The letter cited the significance of DACA in protecting the safety of students and educators with DACA status, as well as called for a lasting solution, such as the DREAM Act. The following year, as legislators debated a replacement for DACA, nearly 700 members urged Congress to ensure that undocumented students felt safe and secure in our classrooms. 

In the letter, the E4E members also committed to:

Making sure that all students are welcomed and included in our classrooms, regardless of immigration status;
Protecting information about the immigration status of students and their families; and
Supporting our students, our colleagues and their families by advocating to maintain DACA and finding a more long-lasting solution.

###