Business leaders tell Congress: Help the Dreamers

Colorado business leaders Wednesday added their voices to a national chorus calling on Congress to act to protect young immigrants brought to the U.S. by their parents from deportation before the end of this year.

In a media call organized by FWD.us, representatives from local business-advocacy organizations urged Colorado’s congressional coalition to throw its full support behind legislation that would allow socalled Dreamers — or young immigrants previously protected by the executive order Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA — to stay in this country legally. They cast it not only as a moral issue, but as sound economic policy, particularly in ultra-low-unemployment Colorado. Participants in the media call noted that of the estimated 800,000 Dreamers in the U.S., 17,300 live in the state.

“We think making sure that young people who have been trained in our schools and understand how business is done here in Colorado should be allowed to remain here with their families and pays taxes,” Mizraim Cordero, vice president of government affairs for the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, said during the call.

Jeff Wasden, president of the Colorado Business Roundtable, said Colorado’s gross domestic product could fall by more than $85 million if all local DACA recipients were deported. He estimated that those people, if allowed to stay, would help the state’s GDP grow by more than $400 million over time.

“The average DACA recipient came here at age 6,” he said. “They are Americans in every way. They support the American Dream.”

The call participants lauded Colorado’s U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and Cory Gardner in supporting a bipartisan bill that would protect Dreamers. They called on other Colorado representatives, including Republican Rep. Scott Tipton, to join in finding a solution.

President Donald Trump announced earlier this year he would end DACA, an Obama-era immigrant-protection program. The program is scheduled to expire in early March.

FWD.us is a bipartisan organization launched by tech-industry leaders to advocate for policies such as immigration reform and criminal justice reform. It has sent two letters to Congress in the past several months, urging it to pass the Dream Act or similar legislation before the end of the year. Those letters have been signed by hundred of business leaders, including Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.