Council resolution supports DACA
Message to Congress is to get this done
The Porterville City Council Tuesday officially threw its support behind Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) legislation.
“The message to Congress is get this done and make the DREAMERS legal,” said Vice Mayor Brian Ward, adding that the last section of the resolution was changed to read, “the City Council of the City of Porterville stands in strong support and urge the swift passage of legislation by Congress a bill that will allow thousands of young students that have lived in the United States for years, and call it home, to realize their education dream and give them a path to legalizing their immigration status.”
The council approved the consideration of the resolution as a scheduled matter at its meeting on Feb. 6.
DACA was a program established by President Barack Obama’s administration in 2012. The program granted work permits and temporary protection from deportation to approximately 800,000 youth who came to the U.S. before age 16.
In July 2017, legislation was introduced in both the House of Representatives (H.R. 3440) and Senate (S. 1615) to address DACA policy, known as the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act. In September 2017, President Donald Trump’s administration took action to begin rescinding DACA, giving Congress a sixmonth period to consider legislative alternatives and solutions.
Although not a big supporter of DACA, Councilmember Cameron Hamilton said he is a supporter of the DREAM Act — an American legislative proposal for a multi-phase process for qualifying alien minors in the U.S. that would first grant conditional residency and, upon meeting further qualifications, permanent residency.
“I think our president forced down [DREAM Act] to Congress where it belongs and I think they are going to be coming up with legislation,” Hamilton said.
Many county residents who were in attendance at the council meeting Tuesday hope Congress will come up with legislation to protect DACA recipients and ensure they get to continue along a path to a successful future.
Resident Edith Lavonne believes DACA is an “extremely important program.”
“Anyone who has registered with DACA has passed an excruciating
background check, they have paid for it, they are going to school and they are being productive members of our society,” Lavonne said, adding that many of DACA recipients are, “The type of immigrants that bring Pulitzer Prizes to our country. A lot of them are very brilliant, and those who aren't, they are all workers and we need to support them because they contribute greatly to our city, county and our state.”
Porterville resident Teresa de la Rosa said the council's support of DACA is important.
“You may think it is not important, but I can assure you that every resolution that is passed by a single council is going to be taken into account,” de la Rosa said. “I can tell you that many of the kids that have DACA are outstanding kids in our community and are contributing members to our society.”
Porterville resident John Coffee said nearly all DACA recipients were brought into the U.S. when they were mere babies and didn't have a choice and believes they shouldn't be punished for that.
“I have a friend who was brought to this country at three months of age,” Coffee said, adding, “You tell me how much choice he had.”
Coffee said his friend now has a job, is in school and is “at least as productive if not more so than most of his counterparts of his age.”
He continued, “He is a fine person, he is an asset not only to this community, but this county and this state,” he said.
Roberto de la Rosa, who has been a resident of Porterville since 1964, said most DACA recipients are either college students, on their way to becoming college students, college graduates or working professionals and believes that it would really be a waste of talent to not support DACA recipients.
“We should be aware of the wealth of talent that is knocking on our door,” Roberto de la Rosa said, adding, “I think it would be, again, a real shame and a real waste of talent not to open our doors, not to open our hearts to them.”
Porterville resident Josh Sulier said it would be a poor decision, monetarily, not to try and
keep DACA recipients in the U.S.
“Statistics currently show that anybody who receives a four-year degree typically earns between $51,000 and $100,000 a year,” Sulier said. “If even half of those students returned with a degree to stay here, you are looking at an increase in the city's average income of a significant amount considering the city's current average is about $35,000.”
Daniel O'connell, the executive director of the Central Valley Partnership in Fresno, said the council has a unique opportunity to help bring those who are terrified out of the shadows.
“We need to be with them, in front of them protecting them and advocating for them,” O'connell said. “At the very least in these divisive times, this gesture [approving the DACA resolution] is an important one to bring us all together.”
Mayor Milt Stowe said he hopes all DACA recipients become permanent U.S. citizens.
“I think the right thing to do is give them that opportunity,” he said.