Support for giving Dreamers the chance to stay in the United States continues to build momentum among lawmakers in the House and the Senate. Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle are continuing to voice support for protecting America’s Dreamers and allowing them to contribute to the only country they know as home:
New polling from the Associated Press found that most Americans don’t want Dreamers to be deported from the country where they grew up:
“What you see is growing support within the voters overall in giving Dreamers a path to citizenship,” said Todd Schulte, president of FWD.us, an immigration advocacy group founded by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. “Giving Dreamers the ability to earn citizenship is the most popular bipartisan, not just immigration, issue, the single most united issue in the country.”
On Thursday, Oct. 12, Rep. Roger Marshall (R-KS) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) co-authored an op-ed in The Hill, highlighting the need to work across the aisle to fix problems with our broken immigration system, and to pass a bipartisan legislative solution to protect America’s Dreamers:
“In the end, in our respective roles as a physician from rural Kansas, and a national immigrant rights advocate, we saw the same thing: immigrants are a vital part of America’s past and our future. Without the help of these folks, our economies and communities would not make it.”
On Thursday, Oct. 12, Congressman Beto O’Rourke reaffirmed that a legislative fix for Dreamers is an urgent issue for Texas, saying: “
[Dreamers] study in school, lead productive and successful careers, serve in our military and are a critical piece of the fabric of our communities. The DREAM Act has bipartisan, bicameral support and if presented on the floor of the House today, it would pass.”
On Wednesday, Oct. 11, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal and Congresswoman Michelle Lujan Grisham joined faith and business leaders – including FWD.us President Todd Schulte – to call for support on the bipartisan Dream Act. According to Leader Pelosi:
“Protecting our DREAMers and respecting immigrant families unites us and unites the three B’s: business, badges — our law enforcement friends – and bibles – our religious friends. And every Republican president for the past four decades has recognized the constant re-invigoration of America. Look at Ronald Reagan. Even after Congress acted, he said, “You haven’t gone far enough. We’re going to have family fairness,” and he protected more people, he and George Herbert Walker Bush, a higher percentage of people than even Barack Obama with his initiatives. This is Ronald Reagan and George Herbert Walker Bush.”
On Monday, Oct. 9 at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit, Ivanka Trump addressed Dreamers, saying that “this is a very complicated issue that needs a long-term congressional fix.”
“I am of the opinion – and the president has stated – that we have to figure out a good solution that protects these innocent people, many of whom were brought to the country as children,” she said. “There has to be a long-term fix; it can’t be bandaged over on a presidential level by another executive order.”
Last week, almost 150 Dreamers representing 25 states flew to Washington, DC, to push for passage of the bipartisan Dream Act. Over the span of two days, Dreamers participated in more than 100 meetings with Members of Congress and their staff, and joined Senators Dick Durbin and Lindsey Graham for a joint press conference:
“There are only two paths forward: either Congress can act now and pass urgent legislation like the Dream Act, or our nation will be responsible for forcing 800,000 out of their jobs, subjecting them to immediate deportation, and using the very information they gave to the government in good faith to find, arrest and deport them,” said FWD.us President Todd Schulte.
Dreamers in the News:
USA Today: 20,000 DACA teachers at risk — and your kids could feel the fallout, too
Washington Post (Editorial): Trump’s cruel sabotage of the ‘dreamers’
Splinter News: 'When You're Put Up Against A Wall, You're Going To Speak Out': In The Eye of the Media Storm with DACA Recipients
Post Independent: Glenwood’s Marissa Molina lobbies in DC for Dream Act