To: President Donald Trump

President Obama: Pause Deportations Immediately

President Obama, you have unused options to make immigration policy more humane. We demand you declare a moratorium on deportations immediately so more people are not harmed by the recent Supreme Court deadlock that puts approximately five million undocumented parents at risk of deportation, in addition to the seven million people who were excluded from the president's original ruling.

Why is this important?

Last week, a Supreme Court ruling put approximately five million undocumented parents back at risk of deportation and continued the exclusion of those who wouldn’t have qualified under President Obama's executive action on immigration that Republicans have been trying to defeat for a while.

Meanwhile, abusive immigration enforcement agents operate unchecked, raiding refugee families, brutalizing people near the border, and putting our loved ones into detention centers and deportation proceedings.

The Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) executive action temporarily relieved parents of DREAMers and lawful permanent residents from deportation and would have provided them with work authorization.

But the DACA and DAPA programs aren't the president's only option to protect migrant communities. As head of the executive branch, President Obama directs how and when enforcement resources are deployed. Under his administration, immigration enforcement agencies have expanded enormously but the undocumented people who would've received deferred action or who could someday benefit from legalization shouldn't be subjected to their abuse.

While Republicans have been able to block reform and delay DAPA, they can't control how the president uses his executive authority for the implementation of immigration enforcement. He can make sure that families and communities are kept together by declaring a moratorium on deportations immediately.