Last night, U.S. District Court Judge Andrew S. Hanen in Texas issued an opinion finding DACA illegal and barring the federal government from granting new applications. For the time being, current DACA recipients are able to retain their protections, but their future is more uncertain than ever. The ruling once again puts the fate of Dreamers in limbo.
Tell your Senators to take action to create a permanent solution for Dreamers now.
Dreamers are undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children. They often have known only the U.S. as home and identify as Americans.
Dreamers have been in the United States for many years and are vital to our economy and communities. American citizens depend on Dreamers. They serve in our military and contribute as teachers, health care providers, neighbors, co-congregants, and more. Together with their families, they make our nation a better place.
Over the next 10 years, Dreamers who currently have DACA will contribute an estimated $433.4 billion to the GDP, $60 billion in fiscal impact, and $12.3 billion in taxes to Social Security and Medicare if they can continue to work legally in the U.S. Dreamers have also been indispensable to our recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic: nearly 30,000 DACA recipients work in health care across the U.S, and nearly half of all Dreamers — around 1 million — work in essential industries.
Tell your Senators that Dreamers are essential members of our communities, and they deserve a permanent solution.
Congress has been considering solutions that would provide certainty to Dreamers. In the U.S. Senate, Sens. Dick
Durbin (D-Illinois) and Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) reintroduced the Dream Act, which would provide DACA recipients permanent legal status, allowing them to continue living and working in the U.S. without fear of deportation, and would provide Dreamers the opportunity to earn eventual citizenship. In March, the House of Representatives voted to pass the Dream and Promise Act, which would provide a pathway to earned citizenship for Dreamers as well as people with Temporary Protected Status.
solution for Dreamers!
These bills represent important potential starting points for Senate action on a permanent legislative solution that protects Dreamers and provides them with permanent legal status. It is past time for Congress to act and provide certainty to Dreamers. Doing so will benefit not only Dreamers, but also those who depend on them: our communities, our churches, our businesses and our nation as a whole.
Judge Hanen’s ruling shines a light on the fact that DACA has always been only a temporary solution and that Congress needs to act now. We cannot keep leaving Dreamers in limbo, undermining their future in the only country many of them have called home. and tell your senators to pass a permanent solution for Dreamers!
Thank you for helping support bipartisan, permanent legislative solutions for Dreamers,
Laurence Benenson
Vice President of Policy & Advocacy
National Immigration Forum
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