Skip to main content
Affordable Employee Training Exclusively for NJBIA Members LEARN MORE

NJBIA has signed on to an amicus brief supporting New Jersey’s opposition to legal action by Texas and a group of other states aimed at ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA program.

NJBIA joined other New Jersey businesses, associations, and nonprofit institutions in an amicus brief authored and filed by Lowenstein Sandler LLP in State of Texas, et al. v. United States of America et al. Texas and its other co-plaintiff states have asked the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas to issue a preliminary injunction against the DACA program.

DACA is an administrative program established in 2012 that permits certain undocumented individuals who came to the United States as children, and who meet certain criteria, to request protection from deportation for renewable two-year periods, and eligibility for work permits.

“Ending the DACA program would cause great harm for New Jersey companies and our economy,” said NJBIA President and CEO Michele N. Siekerka, Esq. “There are 22,000 New Jersey residents who are at risk of no longer being eligible to obtain work authorization. This loss of these important contributing members of our society would result in an estimated decrease of $1.6 billion in our GDP every year, which New Jersey can ill afford.”

Lowenstein Sandler submitted the brief on behalf of Audible, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Montclair State University, NJBIA, the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, Prudential Financial, Sanofi US, and Verizon Communications. The brief highlights the significant harms to the New Jersey economy and New Jersey businesses that would result if DACA were enjoined and thousands of New Jerseyans suddenly became unable to contribute to the state’s economy by working, attending school, and paying taxes.

The submission was among numerous other amicus briefs in support of New Jersey’s position, including those on behalf of major colleges and universities, religious organizations, health care professionals, and legal services organization. Additional amicus briefs in support of that position were filed on behalf of current and former law enforcement officials and prosecutors, nationwide companies and organizations, and Texas-based businesses and associations, including several Texas Chambers of Commerce, International Bancshares Corporation, and Southwest Airlines.

Lowenstein Sandler took up the amicus project through the Lowenstein Center for the Public Interest. The Lowenstein team included David LeitGavin J. Rooney, and Craig Dashiell.

2 responses to “NJBIA Opposes Ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program”

  1. Richard Rapp says:

    My first disagreement with Siekerka is a big one. Perpetuation of DACA should have zero to do with economic outcome and everything with enforcing of existing Federal law over an illegal DACA program. I am adversely impacted by the reduced deductibility of SALT but I fully support the reform because it’s fair. Selective enforcement of law based on selfish interest has Siekerka sounding like the new regime whose tax and spend policies she so opposes. If sanctuary cities benefitted NJ’s economy, would she condone those too?

    • Peter Blok says:

      Good points Richard. My concern with DACA is where does it end? When do we have immigration laws? Sometimes? Never?

      I realize the so-called “dreamers” were small kids and not in control so we need to have some compassion. However, prolonging all these special programs is just more excuses for the US Congress to avoid dealing with a difficult topic. This needs to be fixed at the federal level and needs to be fixed now. Endorsing these programs for economic reasons is just misguided on the part of NJBIA. It just gives the politicians more reason to do nothing.

      I couldn’t disagree more Mr. Murphy and his sanctuary state and other misguided ideas like free tuition. This is just another crazy program. Murphy is creating a social mess and an economic disaster for NJ.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.