Beyond DACA and DAPA: UC Law Program Focuses on DREAMers

The University of Cincinnati College of Law is bringing together local immigration attorneys, DACA recipients, Cincinnati activists and UC professors in a panel discussion event to shed light on the status and future of undocumented people who arrived in the United States as children, also known as DREAMers.

"Moving Beyond DACA and DAPA: What’s Possible for DREAMers Now?" takes place at 12:10 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 1, in Room 118 of the law school. The event is free to attend and open to the public. 

Since 2001, Congress has introduced

— and failed to pass

—

various versions of the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act that would give temporary authorized status to approximately 1.9 million individuals who came to this country as minors.  In 2012, President Barack Obama passed the Deferred Action Against Childhood Arrivals (DACA) to give temporary protection against deportation for DREAMers by providing limited status to those in school or the military.

While about 800,000 individuals have since obtained DACA, its existence and efforts to expand protections have been met with fierce opposition. Recently, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a plan to phase out DACA and called for Congress to act. Since then, litigation has ensued, confusion has arisen and various versions of bills have been created to address the future of DREAMers. As a result, questions arise as to what is next for DREAMers and what is being done now about their future.

This panel begins that discussion. Participants include:

• Julie Arostegui LeMaster, attorney & executive director, Immigrant and Refugee Law Center
• Priscilla Ayala, assistant director, Office of Ethnic Programs and Services, UC
• Jose Cabrera, immigration program organizer, Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center, Xavier Univ., DACA recipient
• M. Isabel Johnston, UC Law 1L student, DACA recipient
• Laura Mendez Ortiz, president, Latinos En Accion, UC, DACA recipient
• Olga Sanmiguel-Valderrama, director, Latin American and Latino/a Studies, and associate professor, Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Yolanda Vazquez, an associate professor at the UC College of Law, will moderate the program, which is co-sponsored by the Immigration and Nationality Law Review, American Constitution Society, UC Law Women, Asian Pacific Law Student Association, the Latina/o Law Student Association, the Muslim Lawyers Association and the Center for Race, Gender, and Social Justice.