The Pacers for Justice and Peace (PJP), a group of Marywood faculty and staff whose goal is to create an open dialogue to discuss social and political issues, have publicly spoken out against President Trump’s plan to phase out the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).

DACA allows immigrants brought into the country illegally as children to remain in the country without fear of deportation.

The PJP drafted a letter in support of the Dreamers who would be affected by the plan. Leaders distributed a draft of the letter to faculty and staff on campus, who were able to sign the letter if they chose. Co-Chair of PJP Dr. Erin Sadlack saw the letter as a way to identify allies of Dreamers in the Marywood community.

“This group of young people has borne the brunt of some truly terrible prejudice and they fear being torn away from the only home they know. We want them to be able to recognize their campus allies if they feel like they need to talk,” Sadlack said.

The letter was printed in The Wood Word as a letter to the editor in both Spanish and English as a way to reflect the 80 to 90 percent of Dreamers who speak Spanish, according to Co-Chair of PJP Dr. Sarah Kenehan.

“We wanted to show our concerns for the Dreamers in their mother tongue as a way to express how deeply we care about them,” said Kenehan.

The PJP recognized that those who are affected by the repeal of DACA reach farther than just the Marywood campus. Kenehan saw the letter as not only being a symbol for the concern of the Marywood community, but also for a larger community.

“The origin [of the letter] was for our students here who would be affected by that, but also in the larger community because Marywood is part of a larger community of Scranton and Northeastern Pennsylvania,” Kenehan said.

The PJP have received no opposition from within the community for the letter, according to Kenehan. She said if Congress takes further action to repeal DACA, they will continue to express opposition of the action.

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