Fall 2017 Newsletter – Message from Executive Director

UNION SETTLEMENT CHRONICLE – FALL 2017

A MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

These are trying times for immigrant families – particularly those with members who are eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

DACA covers young undocumented immigrants who were brought into this country as children, and has shielded them from deportation for the past five years.

On September 5, however, President Trump announced that he was ending the program and giving Congress six months to pass a replacement program. If no replacement bill is passed, then DACA residents will face deportation as early as next March.

This is a humanitarian tragedy.  Most DACA recipients came to the United States when they were six years old or younger, which means this is the only country they know.  Many have younger siblings who were born in the United States and therefore are citizens and cannot be deported.

The President’s action threatens to literally tear these families apart.

There are over 30,000 DACA-eligible residents in New York City, and the impact is felt particularly hard here in East Harlem. For over a century, Union Settlement has been a beacon of hope and opportunity for immigrant families from all over the world. Each day we provide them with child care, afterschool programs, mental health services, English language classes, job training, and so much more.

In this newsletter you’ll find a selection of these important services profiled.

We know these families well, and know them to be hard-working, dedicated, loving, compassionate and patriotic. We will continue to advocate on their behalf, and try to convince the President and Congress to preserve DACA and allow these young immigrants to remain in the country and continue to build their futures here.

—David Nocenti, Executive Director