Blumenthal, Esty, Jepsen back dreamers

Malloy, Wyman also want DACA policy extended

HARTFORD » Attorney General George Jepsen joined Connecticut’s congressional delegation and young foreign-born “dreamers” on Wednesday, stressing the need to retain the federal law that President Donald Trump has threatened to end.

Jepsen, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and U.S. Rep Elizabeth Esty, D-5, joined Connecticut Students for a Dream during a morning news conference in the Capitol aimed at persuading the president to keep in place the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which affords protection from deportation. “I would like to make an appeal to President Trump and his better instincts — better instincts when he’s previously talked about dreamers as incredible kids,” Jepsen said. “We need a president who’ll bring unity to this country, and a revoked DACA policy would divide us even further than we are today.”

The White House has until Sept. 5 to decide whether to defend DACA against challenges from attorneys general from 10 conservative states.

“We are in a very dark and dangerous time,” said Blumenthal, who is a Democrat like Esty

and the rest of Connecticut’s congressional delegation. “They are part of the American fabric. They’re futures are great for America. It’s about our economy and our moral values. For the Dreamers, America is the only country they’ve ever known. They are part of the American Dream. That’s why they are dreamers.”

Blumenthal has filed a bipartisan bill that would make DACA permanent and no longer a program that exists under an executive order.

Lucas Codognolla, executive director of CT Students for a Dream, said DACA has allowed more than 5,000 people to live legally in Connecticut, many of whom are now the chief breadwinners for their families.

He warned that ending DACA, for those who were younger than 16 when they arrived in the country before 2007, would become “just another step in the administration’s white supremacist agenda” and would end protections for 800,000 people across the nation.

“DACA has given me the opportunity to have a scholarship and to pursue a college education,” said Yeni Cortes, another DACA youth.

Esty said that at a time when flooding has destroyed Houston, foreignborn young people here without legal permission have something even bigger to worry about.

“Our country has invested in them an education, and they want to invest back in this country,” Esty said. “It’s the right thing to do morally, it’s the right thing to do economically, but it’s the right thing to do as a human being.”

In a related action, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman on Wednesday signed on to a nationwide appeal for extending DACA.