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Flagstaff Calls On Congress To Extend DACA

Flagstaff City Council passed a resolution Sept. 19 calling on Congress to support an extension of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program within the next six months.

Flagstaff City Council members want Congress to permanently address the legal status of young people whose families brought them to the U.S. as children. 

Council member Charlie Odegaard pointed to a recent study that said the average age a DACA child came to this country was 6. That makes them 26 today.

“And so they’ve had this 20-year time period of not knowing where they’re at,” Odegaard said. “So I think the right thing to do is for Congress to act and to act quickly and to resolve this issue where that 26-year-old today feels confident they have a path towards citizenship.”

The council resolution says there are an estimated 30,000 DACA recipients in Arizona. Ending this program would have a negative economic impact of $1.3 billion in the state over the next decade.

The council’s resolution is based on a similar one passed by the U.S. Conference of Mayors last month.

Laurel Morales was a Fronteras Desk senior field correspondent in Flagstaff from 2011 to 2020.