FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 15, 2017
CONTACT: media@cwsglobal.org
CWS Celebrates Release of Dreamer Detained After DACA Renewal Application Delayed By Post Office, Urges Congress to Pass the Dream Act Before Holidays
After an intense outpouring of support and demands for his immediate release, Osman Aroche Enriquez was reunited with his family. The fates of 800,000 Dreamers are uncertain due to Congressional inaction.
Washington, D.C. – CWS welcomes news of Osman Aroche Enriquez’s release last evening, just in time for him to be reunited with his son before his first birthday.
Aroche Enriquez is a Dreamer from Lancaster, PA whose Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status expired after the U.S. Postal Service failedto deliver thousands of DACA renewal applications on time. Aroche Enriquez was pulled over on Monday for an expired vehicle registration and then transferred to ICE custody.
CWS’ Lancaster office immediately led the effort to free their client. Immigrants’ rights organizations including CWS and partners drove calls to Congress and the local ICE office in Pennsylvania, calling for his immediate release. Yesterday around 5:00 PM, Aroche Enriquez was released and reunited with his family. His case calls into question how many Dreamers in similar situations are languishing in detention, and how many are living in fear of deportation due to expired status or post office delays.
Everyday, 122 DACA recipients like Aroche Enriquez lose their status because Congress has failed to act. Just last week, Congress failed to include the Dream Act in the continuing resolution that will fund the government for two weeks. Each day that Congress delays is another day of uncertainty for 800,000 young people. A bipartisan solution already exists, and thirty-four Republicans Members of Congress signed a letter in support of passing a permanent fix for DACA recipients by the end of December. Congress must act now to keep families together. CWS urges everyone to call their Members of Congress and demand that they pass a clean Dream Act before the end of the year, so that Dreamers like Oscar Aroche Enriquez will not be separated from their families: http://p2a.co/h9D09nz.
Since 1946, Church World Service has supported refugees, immigrants and other displaced individuals, in addition to providing sustainable relief and development solutions to communities that wrestle with hunger and poverty. Learn more about our work and join our global homebase for refugee solidarity at GreaterAs1.org.
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