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Len Rodrguez, Director

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services


U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Kathy Baran
Director, California Service Center
US Citizenship and Immigration Services
October 1, 2016
RE: Support for Granting DACA to Law School Graduate and Undocumented
Organizer Lizbeth Mateo
Dear Director Rodriguez and Director Baran,
We write to you community based organizations and immigrant rights advocates because
we are extremely concerned by the intent to deny the Deferred Action for Childhood
Arrivals (DACA) request by Lizbeth Mateo, recent law school graduate and soon to be
attorney, and long-time, nationally known, immigrant rights organizer. We, the
individuals and organizations listed below, fully support Lizbeths request and ask DHS
to exercise a favorable decision and grant DACA to Lizbeth.
Lizbeth Mateo moved to Los Angeles, California with her family at the age of 14. She
grew up in Los Angeles, graduated from Venice High School and attended both Santa
Monica College and Cal State University Northridge, where she received a degree in
Chicano and Chicana Studies. Lizbeth always had her eye on higher education, but she
was also well aware of the limitations that she and other undocumented students like
herself would face due to their status. So Lizbeth began organizing at CSUN and then
moved to organizing in her community. For several years Lizbeth was at the forefront of
the fight for the rights of the undocumented community.
In 2010 she was an integral part of the undocumented student movement, participating in
the first civil disobedience by undocumented organizers and bringing the fight for the
Development Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act to the forefront.
After the failure of Congress to pass the Dream Act in 2010, Lizbeth and other young
people around the country co-founded the National Immigrant Youth Alliance and
organized, many putting their own futures on the line, to pressure the Obama
administration to grant a reprieve of deportation to undocumented youth and their
parents. Many of these young people staged peaceful sit-ins inside key Obama for
America campaign offices to pressure the administration, while at the same time
highlighting the horrendous condition and abuse suffered by immigrants detained in
private detention centers around the country. It was this kind of protest that produced
conditions that led the Obama Administration to institute DACA in the first place. In fact,
Lizbeth was one of the first undocumented youth to engage in this type of actions; actions
that throughout the history of our nation have led to significant changes and progress.

In 2013, Lizbeth returned to Mexico briefly and spent a short period of time with family
she had not seen in nearly two decades. Lizbeth knew the pain of so many young people
who had come to the United States as children but were forced to return to Mexico due to
family separation or the lack of educational opportunities. Lizbeth returned with eight
other DREAMers and asked, publicly, to be allowed to come home to their families. The
Dream 9, as they came to be known sought to highlight the damage caused by family
separation and called for the immediate reunification of families. After spending 17 days
at the Eloy Detention Center in Arizona, a private detention center operated by the
Corrections Corporations of America (CCA), Lizbeth and the rest of the Dream 9 were
allowed to return to their homes in the United States.
Lizbeth was able to return home just in time to begin her law school career at Santa Clara
University. This past May she graduated and received the Dean's Leadership Award for
her volunteer work with low-income workers, especially her efforts to recover over
$30,000 in unpaid wages for clients at the Katharine and George Alexander Law Center
and her numerous internships serving the most vulnerable members of our communities.
Lizbeth has received several job offers, which she has been forced to decline due to
USCISs failure to exercise discretion and grant Lizbeths DACA.
USCIS has stated that they intend to deny Lizbeths DACA because of her departure
from the U.S. during the Dream 9 action, because it took place after [DATE]. But
Lizbeths brief departure from the United States in 2013, and her return with the Dream
9, was part of her long fight for the rights of the immigrant community.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) designed DACA as a discretionary
program to defer the deportation of young people like Lizbeth, and allow them to receive
a work permit and contribute to our society. DHS has been using this authority to
exercise discretion for years, both to grant and deny relief to immigrant, and it was
designed precisely with people like Lizbeth in mind. Hundreds of thousands of youth
have benefited from DACA thanks to Lizbeths efforts and those of dozens of activists
like her. Denying her DACA, a benefit that she has long-struggled for would not only be
profoundly unjust, it would go against the spirit of the program and is a grave misuse of
discretion.
Denying Lizbeths request for DACA would send a message that political expression in
support of immigrants rights will be punished. As professors, academic professionals,
attorneys, and community organizations, we ask that USCIS reconsiders its Notice of
Intent to Deny and grants Lizbeths DACA application.
Sincerely,

Link to Petition: http://bit.ly/Lizbethsignonletter


Organizations and Institutions
A.H.E.A.D.
APALA Los Angeles
Asian Americans Advancing Justice Atlanta
California Immigrant Policy Center
California State University Northridge
Catholic Charities Solano
Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University
Center for New Community
Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin American (CRLN)
Cleveland Jobs with Justice
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA)
Colectiva Legal del Pueblo
CSUN Associated Students
Department of Chicano/a Studies, California State University, Northridge
Dolores Street Community Services
DREAM Activist Virginia
DreamersAdrift.com
Dreams To Be Heard at California State University Northridge
East Bay Immigrants Youth Coalition
Enlace
Families for Freedom
FilAm ARTS
Free Migration Project
Friends of Adelanto Detainees
Grupo de Apoyo e Integracin Hispanoamericano
Hermanos Unidos de Cal
Hudson Valley Community Coalition
IMI Corona
Immigrant Youth Coalition
Inland Empire Immigrant Youth Coalition
Jews United for Justice
La Raza Law Student Association at Santa Clara Law
Latino Commission on AIDS
Many Languages One Voice
Mujeres de Maiz
National Immigration Law Center
New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia
New York State Youth Leadership Council
Northern Illinois Justice for Our Neighbors
Nu Alpha Kappa Fraternity at Santa Clara University
Orange County Congregation Community Organization
Organized Communities Against Deportations

Pangea Legal Services


Pomona Economic Opportunity Center
RAIZ
Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROC United)
Rio Hondo College "Student Without Borders"
San Bernardino Community Service Center, Inc.
Santa Clara Law - International Human Rights Clinic
Somos Familia Valle
Southeast Immigrant Rights Network
Southwest Organizing Project
Southwest Suburban Immigrant Project (SSIP)
The Center for Justice & Peacebuilding at EMU
UC Undocumented Student Coalition, UC San Diego
UndocuMedia, Inc.
UndocuNurses at UCLA
United Church of Christ, Justice and Witness Ministries
United Hispanic Workers of Detroit
University of California, Berkeley
UnLocal, Inc.
Virginia Organizing
We Belong Together

Co-signed by 250+ Education Professionals, Law Professors, and Attorneys


Cc: Jeh Johnson, Secretary
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Alexandro Mayorkas, Deputy Secretary
U.S. Department of Homeland Security

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