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CMC Signs Letter Supporting DACA

Alex Hager
/
Aspen Public Radio

 

 

Colorado Mountain College joined 165 other colleges and universities across the country in signing a letter of support for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. 

DACA applies to people who were brought in to the United States as children or babies when their parents entered illegally. The program gives them protection from deportation and the ability to work and study in the U.S. legally.

 

Originally put into action in 2012 by the Obama administration, DACA’s fate now rests in the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court. The court will hear three cases, consolidated as one, on November 12.

Ahead of that date, dozens of colleges and universities added their names to an amicus brief -- a letter to the court expressing their support for the program. Glenwood Springs-based Colorado Mountain College, which has 11 campuses throughout the region, was one of them.

The school says there is a “sizable number” of DACA recipients, known as DREAMers, in its community. 

 

“These are students that are in our classes,” said Carrie Hauser, CMC’s president and CEO. “They're in our communities, they are working and living up and down the mountain communities. And it's important for our college to make sure they feel safe, that they have resources to be able to pursue their dreams just as any other student at the college would have.”

Hauser added that signing the amicus brief was an easy decision, and one that she hopes will have some sway in the Supreme Court’s decision.

“This is important to our institutions,” Hauser said. “It's important to our communities, it's important to our economies across the country. So not signing on would certainly be conspicuous by its absence and we need to have a voice and hope that we have some influence.”

The letter also received support from the Colorado State University System, the University of Colorado, and the University of Northern Colorado.

 

Alex is KUNC's reporter covering the Colorado River Basin. He spent two years at Aspen Public Radio, mainly reporting on the resort economy, the environment and the COVID-19 pandemic. Before that, he covered the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery for KDLG in Dillingham, Alaska.