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For Immediate Release
June, 18 2020, 12:00am EDT
Thursday June, 18 2020, 12:00am EDT
Contact:
José Alonso Muñoz, jose@unitedwedream.org, 202.810.0746
Immigrant Youth Win at the Supreme Court; We Are Unafraid and Here to Stay
Today, the Supreme Court announced a 5-4 ruling on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program cases ruling that the Trump administration’s rescission of the program was arbitrary and capricious. The ruling allows DACA to remain in place giving temporary relief to DACA recipients and their families.Greisa Martinez Rosas, DACA recipient and Deputy Executive Director of United We Dream Action, said:
WASHINGTON
WASHINGTON - Today, the Supreme Court announced a 5-4 ruling on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program cases ruling that the Trump administration’s rescission of the program was arbitrary and capricious. The ruling allows DACA to remain in place giving temporary relief to DACA recipients and their families.
Greisa Martinez Rosas, DACA recipient and Deputy Executive Director of United We Dream Action, said:
“Today, the Supreme Court ruled against Trump’s decision to end DACA. This victorious ruling is a testament to our power as immigrant young people and allies have been fighting to protect DACA from relentless attacks from the Trump administration since he was elected; and we’ve kept nearly 700,000 people protected from deportation.
While this win will bring temporary relief to immigrant youth and our families who have been living in limbo since Trump ended DACA in 2017, our fight is not done. Today’s decision follows weeks of courageous uprising by Black people and allies to demand justice for the continued murders of Black people. We are in solitary with Black people and Black immigrants who are calling for the defunding of police. We know that the police, and the deportation force of ICE and CBP were born of white supremacy and anti-Blackness and must be defunded.
Immigrant young people of United We Dream will continue to push back against injustice in its many forms including white supremacy and anti-Blackness, which keep all people from living freely, safely and joyfully.
DACA was possible because immigrant youth imagined and demanded it. Today’s ruling is another reminder that when people directly impacted are those pushing for solutions, that’s when transformational change happens.”
Arisaid Gonzalez Porras, DACA recipient and Georgetown University Student, said:
“I’m grateful that the Supreme Court recognized what I already knew, that DACA is right. I was 16 years-old when I first got my DACA protections. In that time, DACA has allowed me to dream big, it has allowed me to travel, to work, to feel like the rest of my peers. Yet, this is not enough. DACA is still only a temporary permit and doesn’t protect the over 11 million undoumented people living in this country. This decision does not mean the Trump administration will not attempt to rescind the program again, and we need all our state and local elected officials to take action to protect DACA recipients in their communities. The fight will continue for a permanent solution that helps people without hurting people because home is here!
United We Dream is the largest immigrant youth-led community in the country. We create welcoming spaces for young people - regardless of immigration status - to support, engage, and empower them to make their voice heard and win!
LATEST NEWS
Jimmy Kimmel Returning to ABC After Grassroots Campaign Decrying His Suspension
“We have spent the last days having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy, and after those conversations, we reached the decision to return the show on Tuesday,” said Disney.
Sep 22, 2025
Late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel will be back on the air this week after his suspension last week raised alarms about the Trump administration using the power of the federal government to silence critics.
ABC parent company Disney announced in a Monday statement that Kimmel, a little more than a week after he was suspended following a pressure campaign from Trump-appointed Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr.
"Last Wednesday, we made the decision to suspend production on the show to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country," Disney explained. "It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive. We have spent the last days having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy, and after those conversations, we reached the decision to return the show on Tuesday."
Kimmel was suspended last Wednesday over remarks he'd made two days earlier about slain right-wing activist Charlie Kirk. In his opening monologue, Kimmel accused US President Donald Trump and his allies of trying “to score political points," while also suggesting that Kirk's alleged killer, Tyler Robinson, could belong to the far right.
Following the monologue, Carr appeared on a right-wing podcast and said that ABC stations could have their licenses revoked unless they stopped showing Kimmel.
“There’s actions we can take on licensed broadcasters,” Carr said. “And frankly, I think that it’s sort of really past time that a lot of these licensed broadcasters themselves push back on Comcast and Disney and say... we are not going to run Kimmel anymore until you straighten this out because we licensed broadcasters are running the possibility of fines or license revocation from the FCC if we continue to run content that ends up being a pattern of these distortions.”
The decision to suspend Kimmel after threats from a Trump official sparked protests against Disney, and several prominent artists on Monday signed a letter organized by the ACLU that slammed the company for apparently caving to government demands for censorship.
"Jimmy Kimmel was taken off the air after our government threatened a private company with retaliation for Kimmel’s remarks. This is a dark moment for freedom of speech in our nation,” the letter stated. “This is unconstitutional and un-American. The government is threatening private companies and individuals that the president disagrees with. We can’t let this threat to our freedom of speech go unanswered.”
Texas Families Sue to Stop Display of Ten Commandments in Public Schools
“As multiple courts have reaffirmed, the First Amendment safeguards the rights of individuals to choose whether and how they engage with religion, and that protection extends to every classroom,” said one lawyer.
Sep 22, 2025
The battle over Texas’ Senate Bill 10 continued on Monday, with families in the state filing a federal lawsuit to block the display of a Protestant Christian version of the Ten Commandments in a “conspicuous place” in every public school classroom.
“This lawsuit, brought on behalf of a new group of Texas families, underscores a critical principle: Public schools across the state must uphold—not undermine—the constitutional protections afforded to every student,” said Jon Youngwood, global co-chair of the litigation department at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, which represents the plaintiffs.
"As multiple courts have reaffirmed, the First Amendment safeguards the rights of individuals to choose whether and how they engage with religion, and that protection extends to every classroom," Youngwood continued.
The new complaint, filed in the Western District of Texas, explains that "last month, this district court ruled that SB 10 is 'plainly unconstitutional' and likely violates the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses of the First Amendment... And in June, the US Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit held the same regarding a Louisiana statute similar to SB 10."
"Despite these precedents, the defendant school districts have pressed forward with actually posting SB 10 displays in classrooms, or have confirmed they will do so shortly—even after receiving a letter from plaintiffs' counsel," the filing explains.
"All students—regardless of their race or religious background—should feel accepted and free to be themselves in Texas public schools."
After US District Judge Fred Biery, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, issued a preliminary injunction against SB 10 last month, Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is running for US Senate, said that only the school districts involved in that case are affected and all others must abide by the law. Paxton also appealed the previous decision to the 5th Circuit.
With the latest filing, the families are seeking a declaratory judgment that SB 10 is unconstitutional. In both Texas cases, the plaintiffs are represented by not only Simpson Thacher but also Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the state and national ACLU, and the Freedom From Religion Foundation.
"This lawsuit is a continuation of our work to defend the First Amendment and ensure that government officials stay out of personal family decisions," said Chloe Kempf, staff attorney at the ACLU of Texas. "All students—regardless of their race or religious background—should feel accepted and free to be themselves in Texas public schools."
The families behind this latest filing have various beliefs. Nichole Manning, for example, called SB 10 "a calculated step to erode the separation of church and state and the right for my family to exercise our nonreligious beliefs."
Another plaintiff, Lenee Bien-Willner, said that "forcing religion, any religion, on others violates my Jewish faith."
"It troubles me greatly to have Christian displays imposed on my children," she said. "Not only is the text not aligned with Judaism, but the commandments should be taught in the context of a person's faith tradition. State-sponsored religion, however, does not belong in the public classroom."
Even some Christians are opposed to the Texas law. Plaintiff Rev. Kristin Klade said that "as a devout Christian and a Lutheran pastor, the spiritual formation of my children is a privilege I take more seriously than anything else in my life."
"The mandated Ten Commandments displays in my children's public school impede my ability to 'train up my child in the way he should go' (Proverbs 22:6)," she said. "I address questions about God and faith with great care, and I emphatically reject the notion that the state would do this for me."
After Kimmel Suspension, 400+ Entertainers Rip Government Campaign to ‘Pressure’ Them Into Silence
“In an attempt to silence its critics, our government has resorted to threatening the livelihoods of journalists, talk show hosts, artists, creatives, and entertainers across the board,” the letter said.
Sep 22, 2025
After the Trump administration successfully pressured ABC to kick Jimmy Kimmel off the air last week, hundreds of artists signed an open letter Monday denouncing the government’s campaign to “pressure” entertainers and journalists into silence.
The letter, organized by the ACLU, was signed by numerous household names, including Jason Bateman, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ariana DeBose, Jane Fonda, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Regina King, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Diego Luna, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Natalie Portman, Olivia Rodrigo, Martin Short, and Ramy Youssef.
"Jimmy Kimmel was taken off the air after our government threatened a private company with retaliation for Kimmel’s remarks. This is a dark moment for freedom of speech in our nation," the letter says. "This is unconstitutional and un-American. The government is threatening private companies and individuals that the president disagrees with. We can’t let this threat to our freedom of speech go unanswered."
Jimmy Kimmel was taken off the air after our government threatened a private company with retaliation, marking a dark moment for free speech in our nation.More than 400 artists across our nation signed on to say: We refuse to be silenced by those in power.
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— ACLU (@aclu.org) September 22, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Kimmel's suspension came hours after the Federal Communications Commission chairman, Brendan Carr, threatened to revoke the broadcast license of ABC News affiliates unless the network pulled the comedian's late-night show off the air following comments he made criticizing the President Donald Trump's reaction to the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.
Major entertainment unions have condemned Kimmel's suspension, including SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America, which organized demonstrations in Times Square and outside ABC's parent company Disney over the weekend that drew hundreds of protesters, while some actors have pledged to stop working with Disney until Kimmel is reinstated.
In subsequent days, Trump continued to issue threats to the media, suggesting that he would seek to strip the broadcasting licenses of networks that give him "bad press," saying, "They’re not allowed to do that.”
The letter says that "In an attempt to silence its critics, our government has resorted to threatening the livelihoods of journalists, talk show hosts, artists, creatives, and entertainers across the board. This runs counter to the values our nation was built upon, and our Constitution guarantees."
Members of the Trump administration, including JD Vance, have also promoted a wide-ranging campaign to have private citizens reported to their employers over critical comments they made about Kirk following his assassination.
Students for Trump National Chair Ryan Fournier created a database with tens of thousands of social media accounts and has boasted of having gotten dozens of people fired over their posts, many of which simply state disagreement with Kirk even without endorsing his assassination.
"We know this moment is bigger than us and our industry. Teachers, government employees, law firms, researchers, universities, students, and so many more are also facing direct attacks on their freedom of expression," the letter says. "Regardless of our political affiliation, or whether we engage in politics or not, we all love our country. We also share the belief that our voices should never be silenced by those in power—because if it happens to one of us, it happens to all of us."
Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the ACLU, described these blacklisting efforts as the dawn of "a modern McCarthy era" with Americans "facing exactly the type of heavy-handed government censorship our Constitution rightfully forbids."
Noting that former Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R-Wis.) "was ultimately disgraced and neutralized once Americans mobilized and stood up to him,” Romero said that "we must do the same today because, together, our voices are louder and, together, we will fight to be heard.”
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