APril 17, 2024

SB4 Update for the Breakthrough Community:

Alongside students, families, and partners, Breakthrough CTX has monitored the recent legislative passage and subsequent court appeals process for Senate Bill 4 (SB4). If implemented, we believe this law, which creates new criminal penalties and gives local and state police new immigration enforcement responsibilities, has the potential to harm Breakthrough community members and Texans at large. As in previous communications, we continue to affirm the humanity and dignity of all our community members who have a right to safety from deportation and detention and to access opportunities in education and employment that allow them to thrive in our society. Part of this commitment to our students and families includes facilitating access to free immigration legal aid through our relationship with Catholic Charities Central Texas to support immigration-related questions. For more information about this service, please contact your Breakthrough advisor or visit: https://www.ccctx.org/immigration-legal-services/ If you have additional questions or need guidance related to the new law, please consult legal counsel directly. 

The final outcome of SB4 remains unclear, yet it’s important to understand that certain places, including schools, remain protected zones. Austin ISD has shared that its Police Department will not enforce this law. 

Breakthrough CTX will continue to monitor and communicate updates regarding this law to our families and community. If you believe your civil rights have been violated by police action under SB4, please email SB4@maldef.org. See below for additional resources to learn more:

• United We Dream SB4 Explainer 
• MALDEF SB 4 one-pager
• City of Austin Immigrant Affairs Information and Events

July 20, 2021

Dear Breakthrough community members,

Alongside our students and families, we have closely watched the rulings related to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program over the last several years. We are disheartened and appalled to learn that U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen’s ruling in the lawsuit that was filed in 2018 in the Southern District of Texas by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and nine other states, yet again disrupts the lives of undocumented students in Texas who applied for initial DACA benefits, and forecloses any real possibility of establishing long-term security and stability for themselves and for their families.

As in previous communications, we continue to affirm the humanity and dignity of all our community members, DACA recipients and not, who have a right to safety from deportation and detention and to access opportunities in education and employment that allow them to thrive in our society. Part of Breakthrough’s commitment to our students and families includes supporting all new and current applications to prevent a lapse in status and providing annual financial support for United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) renewal fees, as well as access to free immigration legal aid through our relationship with Catholic Charities Central Texas to support immigration-related questions. 

As an organization, we call on our elected officials to pass once and for all, permanent protections in support of undocumented youth after nearly 2 decades of legislative inaction. We also encourage our community members, both directly-impacted and allies, to engage in meaningful advocacy to help prevent the deportation of approximately 690,000 DACA recipients nationally who make invaluable contributions to our learning communities and professional industries daily. For ways to engage more specifically in these issues, please visit the following initiatives:

1. National: https://unitedwedream.org/protect-immigrants-now/ 
2. National: https://immigrationforum.org/article/dreamer-advocacy-resources/ 
3. Local: https://austinsanctuarynetwork.org/ 
4. Local: https://grassrootsleadership.org/immigration 

If you have additional questions or need guidance related to the recent court decision, please consult with legal counsel directly. Breakthrough has coordinated a partnership with Catholic Charities Central Texas to offer free immigration legal aid to our students and families, as do a growing number of institutions of higher education and community-based organizations locally and across the nation. For more information about this service, please contact your Breakthrough advisor or visit: https://www.ccctx.org/immigration-legal-services/

December 8, 2020

Dear Breakthrough community members,

On Friday, December 4th, 2020, a federal judge ordered the full reinstatement of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program prior to September 5, 2017. While the DACA program has been heavily contested in multiple litigation filings over the last four years, including and most prominently in the Supreme Court of the United States in June of this year, we are relieved this ruling’s full restoration of the program will allow for undocumented youth and families to realize their full potential in our country. 

Furthermore, yesterday’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) updates also extended documents for Temporary Protected Status beneficiaries for El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua and Sudan, provided that the affected beneficiaries remain individually eligible for TPS into October 2021. Like DACA beneficiaries, thousands of TPS recipients and their families who reside right here in Central Texas provide invaluable contributions to our classrooms and communities. 

We continue to affirm the humanity and dignity of all our community members, DACA/TPS recipients and not, who have a right to safety from deportation and detention and to access opportunities in education and employment that allow them to thrive in our society. Part of Breakthrough’s commitment to our students and families includes supporting all new and current applications to prevent a lapse in status and providing annual financial support for United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) renewal fees, as well as access to free immigration legal aid through our relationship with Catholic Charities Central Texas to support renewal applications.

According to the newly updated guidance, USCIS will immediately begin the following:

• Accepting first-time requests for consideration of deferred action under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) based on the terms of the DACA policy in effect prior to September 5, 2017, and in accordance with the Court’s December 4, 2020, order;
• Accepting DACA renewal requests based on the terms of the DACA policy in effect prior to September 5, 2017, and in accordance with the Court’s December 4, 2020, order;
• Accepting applications for advance parole documents based on the terms of the DACA policy prior to September 5, 2017, and in accordance with the Court’s December 4, 2020, order;
• Extending one-year grants of deferred action under DACA to two years; and
• Extending one-year employment authorization documents under DACA to two years.

If you have additional questions or need guidance related to the recent court decision, please consult with legal counsel directly. Breakthrough has coordinated a partnership with Catholic Charities Central Texas to offer free immigration legal aid to our students and families, as do a growing number of institutions of higher education and community-based organizations locally and across the nation. For more information about this service, please contact your Breakthrough advisor or visit: https://www.ccctx.org/immigration-legal-services/ 

 July 31, 2020

In the light of the newly announced decision from the Department of Homeland Security to radically reduce benefits for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, we continue to affirm the humanity and dignity of all our community members, DACA recipients and not, who have a right to safety from deportation and detention and to access opportunities in education and employment that allow them to thrive in our society. Breakthrough’s commitment to our students and families is to support all current DACA recipients to prevent a lapse in status and provide annual financial support for United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) renewal fees, as well as access to free immigration legal aid through our relationship with Catholic Charities Central Texas to support renewal applications. Using that same service, we encourage members of our community not eligible for DACA to pursue an immigration screening to discern other possible forms of immigration relief. 

If you have additional immigration-related questions or need guidance related to the recent court decision, please consult with legal counsel directly. Breakthrough remains committed to supporting all of our students and communities by advocating alongside them for the protection of DACA, demanding Congressional enactment of humane and comprehensive federal immigration policy with a pathway to citizenship, and collaborating with undocumented students and families to navigate future challenges and tirelessly pursue their personal and professional dreams.

July 10, 2020

Last month, the Supreme Court held that termination of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program by the presidential administration was unlawful, temporarily allowing for the continuation of DACA. Breakthrough Central Texas emphatically supports and applauds this decision, particularly for its positive impact on DACA recipients, our communities, and our nation. The decision is proof of the courage and leadership that generations of undocumented youth and their advocates have shown in initiating and defending immigrant communities. We continue to affirm the humanity and dignity of all our community members, DACA recipients and not, who have a right not only to safety from deportation and detention, but to access opportunities in education and beyond that allow them to thrive in our society. While this decision is a much needed reprieve, especially for the 100,000+ DACA recipients in Texas, it is a temporary one.

Breakthrough remains committed to supporting all of our students and communities by advocating alongside them for the protection of DACA, demanding Congressional enactment of humane and comprehensive federal immigration policy with a pathway to citizenship, and collaborating with undocumented students and families to navigate future challenges and tirelessly pursue their personal and professional dreams. 

At Breakthrough, we are well aware of the incredible value that undocumented students, families, and partners contribute to our community, our mission, and the country. Their hard-work, passion, intelligence, wisdom, drive, and commitment to serving others as teachers, leaders, advocates, mentors, peers and volunteers is revealed daily through their participation in Breakthrough and beyond. As an organization dedicated to eliminating disparities in postsecondary access and success, it could not be more obvious to us how we all benefit from the investment in and broadening of educational opportunities for undocumented students. 

While the DACA decision came as positive news amidst a contentious moment in our country’s history, much more is needed to improve the college access and success of undocumented students. Undocumented students’ and families’ experiences include real and ongoing challenges when pursuing their educational goals: exclusion from federal financial aid (and economic stimulus); college environments and classrooms where they are made to feel unseen or unwelcome; absence of clear communication regarding the policies surrounding admissions, financial aid, and housing; and significant socio-emotional stressors that impact their mental health often without the guidance of culturally proficient mental health professionals  (for a comprehensive review of research on the barriers that undocumented college students must navigate in higher education refer to this recent ASHE & ACPA joint statement). Many of these barriers have been compounded by the unevenly distributed social and economic consequences of the pandemic, and serve as additional obstacles to access and aid, only to reinforce legal exclusions. We see, hear, and acknowledge these realities, including the trauma of experiencing the ongoing threat or impacts of detention or deportation, that all have direct impacts on so many young peoples’ (and their families’) lives. 

As a diverse Breakthrough community, we stand by you as advocates for the defense of DACA and so many other provisions that support the rights of all young people to unlock their true potential and lead full lives on and off college campuses. For these reasons and more, Breakthrough remains committed to: continually building upon and improving how we educate ourselves on what the most recent and future court and legislative decisions mean to our students and their families; working to connect unique services such as legal representation and financial assistance with those who need it; defending in-state aid to undocumented students (with and without DACA); advocating for the allocation of more financial assistance (e.g., scholarships, emergency funds); supporting undocumented youth dealing with anxiety and trauma; and continuing to offer practical immigration resources and holistic, guided advising to capitalize on the incredible aspirational, academic, cultural, and linguistic assets of our undocumented students and families.

In a moment when our community and the world is filled with so much emotion as we’ve witnessed historic protests around the country in response to the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless others, we acknowledge the role that systemic racism has in the barriers we seek to dismantle. We, as individuals and an organization, emphatically reject all forms of hate. We promise to wholeheartedly take up the ongoing work of allyship with you and pledge that we will be HERE with you to support you on your journey in all ways we can. 

If you have additional questions or need guidance related to the recent court decision, please consult with legal counsel directly. Breakthrough has coordinated a partnership with Catholic Charities Central Texas to offer free immigration legal aid to our students and families, as do a growing number of institutions of higher education and community-based organizations locally and across the nation. For more information about this service, please contact your Breakthrough advisor or visit: https://www.ccctx.org/immigration-legal-services/