New Orleans, Louisiana – The outcome of the pending lawsuits against DACA and the Biden-Harris Keeping Families Together parole in place process will determine the future of millions of people that have been in our country for decades. FWD.us President Todd Schulte issued the following statement today ahead of oral arguments before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in the case against DACA:

“The 12 years of DACA have made it undeniable that not only is DACA a wildly successful program that has transformed millions of lives, but that giving people the ability to legally work and live without fear of deportation is something best for not only all undocumented immigrants who have built their lives here, but best for all Americans.

And yet, with the threat of a return to former President Trump’s horrifying family separation policies looming large, the saga against DACA and now the attacks against the Keeping Families Together process for spouses of U.S. citizens could not be more dire. Both of these cases are about one thing: throwing lives into chaos and paving the way for mass family separation.

“Today in New Orleans and in the weeks ahead, the contrast could not be clearer for the majority of Americans concerned with the future of our immigration system: enacting a fair and orderly system, protecting Dreamers, and fighting for a pathway to citizenship versus chaos and mass family separation and subjecting millions of people to deportation.”

FWD.us estimates that 1 in every 15 U.S. residents, or some 22 million people, live in a mixed-status family. These are the families that could be torn apart and the homes that would be devastated if these two lawsuits are successful.

The Fifth Circuit was originally scheduled to hold a separate hearing today for the lawsuit against the Keeping Families Together process. That hearing was abruptly canceled on Friday night after the Fifth Circuit affirmed a district court decision denying directly impacted people the opportunity to intervene in the case. The Fifth Circuit also lifted the stay blocking the Keeping Families Together process from approving grants of parole, but a Texas District Court judge reinstated the stay hours later to freeze KFT once again. Under this new timeline, this is now an effort to block a program via an administrative stay for over 70 days and through the election.