Tag: Dreamers

Republicans’ no-win choice: Dreamers or defense

The following article by Rachael Bade and Connor O’Brien was posted on the Politico website January 17, 2018:

The government shutdown threat is forcing the party to choose between maintaining a hard line on immigration or spending more on the military.

“I am going to be very hard to deal with if we continue to delay funding the Defense Department,” Sen. Lindsey Graham warned this week. | Alex Wong/Getty Images

President Donald Trump and Republican leaders are being forced to choose between two prized conservative priorities as they try to head off a government shutdown: bolstering the military or taking a hard line against immigration.

Democrats’ refusal to strike a long-term budget accord without a deal to shield 700,000 young undocumented immigrants from deportation means Republican can’t have both. They can strike a deal to protect Dreamers, which would upset the base but secure the extra defense spending they’ve pined for. Or they can continue to hold the line against the Obama-era immigration program known as DACA, keep struggling to pass patchwork spending bills, and let the Pentagon limp along with no infusion of money. Continue reading “Republicans’ no-win choice: Dreamers or defense”

Poll: Most Americans support DACA

The following article by Brett Samuels was posted on the Hill website January 14, 2018:

© Greg Nash

A large majority of Americans supports maintaining the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, a new poll found.

The CBS News poll, released Sunday, shows 70 percent of Americans favor allowing those who benefit from the program, often known as “Dreamers,” to stay in the country. Congress has in recent days met to work on a long-term fix for the program.

The Obama-era measure allows certain immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children to live and work here without fear of deportation.

Continue reading “Poll: Most Americans support DACA”

Evangelical Immigration Table: Statement on the President’s Reported Comments and Bipartisan Progress toward a Solution for Dreamers

The following statement from the Evangelical Immigration Table was released January 14, 2018:

Immigrants from various countries within Africa as well as from Haiti, El Salvador, Norway, and every country in the world have contributed to the greatness of this country. We have brothers and sisters in Christ who are integral parts of the universal Church within and from each of these nations, each of whom the Bible tells us will one day gather around the throne of God in worship. The Scriptures teach us that each human person— regardless of their country of origin—is made in the image of God, with inherent and infinite dignity. Jesus emerged from the despised and disregarded town of Nazareth, a reminder that we ought never pre-judge any person based on his or her community of origin.

These biblical values inform our national values as well. The United States was founded upon the conviction that all people are created equal—though, as Martin Luther King, Jr. reminded our country, we have not always lived up to that truth. Continue reading “Evangelical Immigration Table: Statement on the President’s Reported Comments and Bipartisan Progress toward a Solution for Dreamers”

Trump’s disgraceful use of ‘dreamers’ as a bargaining chip

The following commentary by the Washington Post’s Editorial Board was posted on their website January 4, 2018:

Protesters who call for an immigration bill addressing the so-called dreamers, young adults who were brought to the United States as children, rally on Capitol Hill in December. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters)

AFTER ALL of President Trump’s bluster about his “great love” for “dreamers,” brought to this country as children through no fault of their own, it turns out he’s content to use them as leverage in a high-stakes game of political horse-trading. Mr. Trump seems willing to strip them of jobs, security and homes unless Democrats buckle on a range of Republican immigration priorities, including an even longer-standing object of the president’s ardor: a beautiful border wall.

In September, it was Mr. Trump who terminated the Obama-era protection for dreamers that shielded them from deportation while granting them work permits if they had clean records and met certain other requirements. At the time, he gave Congress six months to fashion a legislative fix; failing that, the president suggested he would act unilaterally to ensure their protection. Continue reading “Trump’s disgraceful use of ‘dreamers’ as a bargaining chip”

Indivisible members stand for Dreamers with light bridge brigade over I-494

The following article by Cam Bonelli was posted on the Sun-Current website January 5, 2018:

Activist group creates message in lights for drivers

On Dec. 19, Indivisible MN03 held lights on the bridge at Xerxes Avenue above I-494 to inform people about the Dream Act

Drivers on Interstate 494 may have seen the message “PASS THE DREAM ACT” overhead or in their rearview mirror in December.

An activist group, Indivisible MN, set out to shed light on a bill to provide a route to citizenship for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival recipients, undocumented or Temporary Protected Status persons and those who attended high school in the U.S. and now attend college. According to the Migration Policy Institute, 5,500 Minnesotans received DACA as of September 2017, and the institute estimates 11,000 more qualify to apply.

Continue reading “Indivisible members stand for Dreamers with light bridge brigade over I-494”

‘Dreamers’ Deal May Hinge On Separating Trump From Hard-Liners On His Staff

The following article by Lisa Mascaro and Brian Bennett of the Tribune Content Agency was posted on the National Memo website October 10, 2017:

Credit: Evan Vucci/AP

WASHINGTON — Lawmakers who favor a deal to protect some 700,000 young immigrants facing possible deportation because of the end of the Obama administration’s DACA program are seeking to drive a wedge between President Donald Trump and hard-liners on his staff, launching appeals directly to a president who they see as potentially sympathetic to people brought illegally to the U.S. as children.

In his public comments, Trump has shown an unwillingness to be boxed in by his most hard-line advisers on immigration. He initially wavered on what to do with the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which has protected the young immigrants known as “Dreamers,” then openly contradicted Attorney General Jeff Sessions hours after the attorney general announced the end of the program last month. Continue reading “‘Dreamers’ Deal May Hinge On Separating Trump From Hard-Liners On His Staff”

Rep. Luis Gutierrez: Trump’s immigration proposals ‘an extension of the white supremacist agenda’

The following article by Ed O’Keefe was posted on the Washington Post website October 8, 2017:

The Trump administration released a list of hard-line immigration principles Oct. 8, which could threaten to derail a deal in Congress to protect “dreamers” from deportation. (Elyse Samuels/The Washington Post)

A longtime Democratic lawmaker thinks negotiating with President Trump on immigration policy is “fanciful thinking” in the wake of the hard-line conservative proposals he announced late Sunday.

And after reviewing what Trump proposed, Rep. Luis Gutierrez (Ill.) had a message for fellow Democrats: I told you so. Continue reading “Rep. Luis Gutierrez: Trump’s immigration proposals ‘an extension of the white supremacist agenda’”

Trump administration releases hard-line immigration principles, threatening deal on ‘dreamers’

The following article by David Nakamura was posted on the Washington Post website October 8, 2017:

The Trump administration released a list of hard-line immigration principles Oct. 8, which could threaten to derail a deal in Congress to protect “dreamers” from deportation. (Elyse Samuels/The Washington Post)

The Trump administration released a list of hard-line immigration principles late Sunday that threaten to derail a deal in Congress to allow hundreds of thousands of younger undocumented immigrants to remain in the country legally.

The administration’s wish list includes the funding of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, a crackdown on the influx of Central American minors and curbs on federal grants to “sanctuary cities,” according to a document distributed to Congress and obtained by The Washington Post. Continue reading “Trump administration releases hard-line immigration principles, threatening deal on ‘dreamers’”

Poll: Nearly 9 in 10 Americans Support a Program for Dreamers to Stay

The following article by Griffin Connolly was posted on the Roll Call website September 26, 2017:

Lawmakers working to find a solution by Trump’s deadline

AP/Carolyn Kaster
A woman holds up a sign during a rally supporting DACA outside the White House in Washington, September 4, 2017.

Nearly nine in 10 Americans support a program that allows undocumented childhood immigrants to remain in the United States, a Washington Post/ABC News poll found.

Eighty-six percent of respondents said they supported some kind of program for “undocumented immigrants to stay in the United States if they arrived here as a child, completed high school or military service and have not been convicted of a serious crime.”

Consensus on how to handle the legal status of these immigrants spanned the ideological spectrum. Ninety-six percent of self-identified liberals, 87 percent of moderates, and 77 percent of conservatives supported a program for them to remain in the country. Continue reading “Poll: Nearly 9 in 10 Americans Support a Program for Dreamers to Stay”

The Economic Benefits of Passing the Dream Act

The following article by Francesc Ortega, Ryan Ewards and Philip Wolgin was posted on the Center for American Progress website September 18, 2017:

Credit:  AP/Carolyn Kaster
A woman holds up a sign during a rally supporting DACA outside the White House in Washington, September 4, 2017.

A September 5 announcement from the Trump administration effectively ended Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)1—a program that, since 2012, has helped nearly 800,000 young people gain a temporary reprieve from deportation and a work permit.2The conversation has now shifted to the urgent need for Congress to pass legislation such as the Dream Act, which would provide permanent protection and a pathway to citizenship to unauthorized immigrants who came to the country as children.3

To better understand the potential economic impact of passing the Dream Act, this issue brief calculates the economic gains that would stem from legalizing potentially eligible individuals already in the workforce. This analysis builds on the groundbreaking work of the Center for American Progress’ earlier study, “The Economic Impacts of Removing Unauthorized Immigrant Workers,” which calculated the economic contributions of unauthorized workers to each individual industry, each state, and the nation as a whole, and updates and applies that economic model to the population of workers eligible for the Dream Act.4 Continue reading “The Economic Benefits of Passing the Dream Act”