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Public school superintendents in Arizona respond to possible DACA elimination

Posted at 6:11 PM, Sep 04, 2017
and last updated 2017-09-04 23:30:05-04

TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) Dozens of public school superintendents in Arizona have signed a letter in response to the possible elimination of DACA.

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, gives protection to undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children. It has been reported that President Donald Trump will announce he's ending the program on Tuesday. 

The letter was released last week and is on the Pima County School Superintendent's Office page. It was signed by dozens of school officials including Sunnyside Unified School District Superintendent Steve Holmes and Flowing Wells School District Superintendent David Baker.

The superintendents say the elimination of DACA would have a "drastic economic impact" on counties throughout Arizona and on schools. Below is a portion of the letter: 

But to us, the undersigned public district superintendents, this is much more than an economic or educational issue. This is personal.

We will have students, already living in poverty, who will see their household annual income decline drastically, if not completely. We will have high school seniors, college within reach, who will have to alter their post-secondary plans. We have alumni attending community colleges and universities who will be forced to drop out. We have high school and college graduates, currently working full-time throughout the state, who will become unemployed. Many of these individuals are the breadwinners of their families or, even worse, the sole income. The social, emotional, and financial toll this will take on our communities is far greater than the general public is aware.

Read the letter in full here.