10 March 2023- Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown continues a slew of liberal focused causes as his office files an amicus brief to support the continuation of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, which is currently being challenged again by the State of Texas. Full release from Brown’s Office is below.
Pushing back against the ongoing, misguided effort led by Texas to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown today joined a coalition of Attorneys General in an amicus brief reiterating the critical importance of DACA for states across the country and the hundreds of thousands of Dreamers and their families who depend on the program. More than 9,900 Marylanders have directly benefitted from DACA over the last ten years.
“DACA is a lawful program on which thousands of individuals rely for education and employment, and in turn, those individuals contribute critical social and economic benefits to the states in which they reside,” said Attorney General Brown. “Abruptly ending the program will disrupt and devastate the lives of individuals and families across the country.”
DACA has allowed recipients to live, study, and work across the United States free from the fear of being forcibly separated from their families and communities. Since 2012, more than 825,000 young immigrants have been granted DACA protections after completing applications and passing a background check. Dreamers come from almost every country in the world, but many have never known any home other than the United States. The program has enabled hundreds of thousands of grantees to enroll in colleges and universities; start businesses that help improve our economy; serve in the military; and give back to our communities as teachers, medical professionals, engineers, and entrepreneurs. These contributions became even more evident during the COVID-19 pandemic as tens of thousands of DACA recipients continued to serve their communities as essential workers and frontline healthcare professionals.
DACA plays a vital role in supporting economies at the national, State, and local level. DACA recipients and their households are estimated to contribute approximately $9.5 billion in federal, State, and local taxes each year. A full rollback of DACA – as being pushed for by Texas and its allies – is projected to result in a loss of an estimated $280 billion in national economic growth over the course of a decade. It would also lead to an estimated loss of $33.1 billion in Social Security contributions and $7.7 billion in Medicare contributions, funds that are critical to ensuring the financial health of these national programs upon which people across the country rely. In addition, the spending power of DACA recipients, estimated at $25.3 billion annually, also contributes substantially to the overall economic health of the nation. DACA recipients own homes, make mortgage payments, own small businesses, and help support the creation of new jobs.
In the brief, filed before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, the coalition reiterates that:
- DACA recipients are vital to amici states’ communities, public universities, and economies;
- DACA enhances public safety and reduces the strain on social safety net programs;
- Amici states have structured their laws and regulations in reliance on DACA and the benefits it confers;
- Abrupt termination of DACA would disrupt and harm DACA recipients and amici states; and
- Any remedy in this case must account for the significant reasonable reliance interests of DACA recipients and their states and communities.
Joining Attorney General Brown in filing the brief are the Attorneys General of Arizona, California Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin.
