Congress must listen — Americans want DACA recipients to remain
While there are many issues plaguing our immigration system, there is one inequality that we as a nation must resolve with urgency. Passing the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act will create a long overdue pathway to citizenship for undocumented youth who were brought to our country as children and know no other home.
Time is running out. There are approximately 700,000 young people who are facing the loss of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) protections. Of those, about 200,000 DACA recipients are in California alone, and more than 70,000 are enrolled in our state’s universities and community colleges. These brave young people are going to school, caring for their families, building our communities and making incredible contributions to our society.
DACA was and is a commonsense solution to protect the hundreds of thousands of undocumented youths attending school, serving in the military, contributing to our economy and participating in our communities. Now is the time to make these protections permanent.
Those who believe that we can wait to enact the DREAM Act of 2017 are wrong. Every day lawmakers wait to address this issue is a missed opportunity to live our values as a true nation of immigrants and protect the most vulnerable among us.
As representatives of human services agencies with diverse faith traditions, we are witness to the struggle and unfair consequences our outdated and dysfunctional immigration system has created for thousands of families living and working in our communities. We see children afraid that a parent will be taken away; we see families separated by detention and deportation; we see exploitation of undocumented workers and communities living in fear.
Making DACA protections permanent is not only the humane and just thing to do, it is also the smart thing to do. California will lose more than $11.3 billion in gross domestic product over 10 years if DACA protections end.
As a society, we can and should do better.
The Hebrew Bible tells us: “The strangers who sojourn with you shall be to you as the natives among you, and you shall love them as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Leviticus 19:33-34).
In the New Testament, Jesus tells us to welcome the stranger, for “what you do to the least of my brethren, you do unto me” (Matthew 25:40).
The Quran tells us that we should “do good to ... those in need, neighbors who are near, neighbors who are strangers, the companion by your side, the wayfarer that you meet” (4:36).
The Hindu Taittiriya Upanishad tells us: “The guest is a representative of God” (1.11.2).
Eighty-one percent of voters think that DACA recipients should stay in the country, and of those, 58 percent say they should be allowed to become citizens. The time for politics is over. Therefore, we urge Congress and all lawmakers to enact humane and equitable immigration reform now.
We will continue to be here for our immigrant brothers and sisters during this time of uncertainty, and we call on all people of integrity and goodwill to not stand aside while our brothers and sisters are pushed into the shadows.
We must act with dignity, love and compassion. Congress must pass a clean DREAM Act of 2017 now. The well-being of thousands of Americans and their families and communities depends on it.