Manatt filed an amicus brief on behalf of Teach For America urging the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold the findings of lower courts and prevent the Administration from ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. The Manatt team is led by Ronald Blum and includes professionals Harvey Rochman, Esra Hudson, Julian Polaris and Michael Olsen.
Teach For America was among the first organizations to actively recruit, train and support DACA-eligible individuals to teach in classrooms nationwide. In the past six years, almost 250 DACA recipients have joined the organization and have gone on to teach in public schools, working to increase student success and to end educational inequity for all. These individuals have unique clarity on supporting undocumented students; and are role models for all students deepening the understanding of our country’s rich and diverse history.
The amicus brief notes the vital role the program plays in educational equity for students, schools and communities. “Without DACA, undocumented youth—including thousands of schoolchildren—lack a clear path to higher education, economic mobility, and high-quality jobs. They risk deportation to countries they do not know.” It also highlights the commitment of Teach For America’s DACA educators who choose to serve their communities despite the full range of job opportunities available to them after gaining relief under DACA. The amicus brief notes that “[t]hese extraordinary young people choose to dedicate at least two years—the same period as their renewable DACA relief—to serve children and schools in low-income communities.”
The team’s filing comes ahead of the upcoming oral arguments for Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California, which challenges the lawfulness of the Department of Homeland Security’s memorandum—issued on September 5, 2017—rescinding the DACA policy it established in 2012, using unsubstantiated concerns about the legal basis for the policy. “Acting Secretary [Elaine C.] Duke rescinded DACA without acknowledging, must less weighing, the rich and variegated reliance interests engendered over DACA’s first five years,” the brief states. Among them, the brief notes that “[t]here are perhaps no greater examples of DACA’s importance, and the consequences of its rescission, than the students and teachers who have relied upon its relief.”
Oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court are scheduled for November 12, 2019.
Read the complete amicus brief here.