AMS President responds to DACA announcement

Ken Ribet, AMS President, has posted a personal statement on the DACA announcement at http://www.ams.org/policy/govnews/ribet-daca.pdf.

Dear Colleagues,

On September 4, 2017, the President and the Attorney General of the United States announced that they will end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which was established in 2012 by President Barack Obama and U.S. Homeland Secretary Janet Napolitano.

The September 4 decision terrorizes the 800,000 DACA recipients, who suddenly find themselves under the threat of deportation. These Dreamers are our neighbors, colleagues, students, friends and loved ones. Because they came to our country as young children, most Dreamers know only the U.S. as their home country.

Tuesday morning’s announcement was met with strong messages of support for DACA from President Obama and numerous other public figures, including the chancellors and presidents of countless universities. Echoing these messages were posts on social media by mathematicians who know firsthand the contributions that DACA recipients have made to our profession. To add my support for the Dreamers, I can do no better than to quote Jeremy Teitelbaum of the University of Connecticut, who posted simply: “I am ashamed for my country.”

I invite AMS members and others in the mathematics community to share with government officials, university leaders, and the media, the first-hand experiences that they have had with DACA recipients.

Sincerely,

Ken Ribet AMS President