DACA recipients storm U.S. Capitol

WASHINGTON — They ditched school and marched to Capitol Hill en masse, then filled four floors of balconies in the vast atrium of the Hart Senate Office Building. Silent at first, fists raised in the air, they soon erupted into bellowing chants that echoed through the massive marbleclad room. “Dream Act. Dream Act.” “Sí se puede. Sí se puede.” The demonstration Thursday involving high school and college students from the Washington, D.C., region and beyond was the latest attempt by undocumented immigrants and their advocates to keep Congress focused on their plight.

In September, President Donald Trump announced that he would kill the Obamaera Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which grants work permits and deportation protection to nearly 700,000 illegal immigrants brought here as children.

If Congress can’t pass legislation to replace the program, work permits will begin expiring in March.

Competing bills have been proposed to offer DACA recipients a path to citizenship, and a group of Republican lawmakers held a news conference Thursday to urge action on that legislation this year. But the Republican leadership — currently consumed with plans to cut taxes — has said no vote is likely before January.

“It’s been two months since DACA has been rescinded, and we have no solution yet,” said Bruna Bouhid, communications manager for United We Dream, the organization that helped plan Thursday’s protest. “Immigrant youth are honestly fed up, and they are tired of waiting.”