...to pass legislation granting 700,000 DACA recipients and 1.6 million Dreamers permission to remain in this country. Most DACA recipients are contributing to our economy. They have passed background checks. We Americans have already invested in their educations and most are working in or preparing to enter the workforce. DACA recipients alone will contribute $433 billion to our GDP and $24.6 billion in Social Security and Medicare taxes over the next 10 years.
The Supreme Court will hear arguments on DACA beginning November 12th and will then issue a ruling in the first half of 2020!
The Court has been asked to decide if an executive order was constitutional. They may decide that neither President Obama nor President Trump had the authority to legislate. Both Presidents have said it is the responsibility of Congress!
Therefore, the urgency for a legislative solution increases every day as SCOTUS prepares to rule.
It is time for Congress to pass a legislative solution. This should not be left up to the courts to decide. Congress needs to do its job!
Lawmakers should work together and pass sensible immigration policy before DACA recipients lose their conditional legal status and their ability to work.
As President Trump tweeted back in September of 2017, “Does anybody really want to throw out good, educated and accomplished young people who have jobs, some serving in the military? Really!.....”
It does not make any sense to be deporting workers when US unemployment just hit a record low of 3.5% and workforce shortages are slowing economic growth.
The American Dream and Promise Act of 2019, which passed through the US House in June, would provide a method for Dreamers to obtain conditional legal status and earn green cards if they graduate from college, serve in the military, or maintain gainful employment for three years. It would also allow for 300,000 Temporary Protected Status (TPS) recipients to apply for green cards.
However, the American Dream and Promise Act is not expected to pass in the Senate because it does not contain improvements to border security, a key Republican initiative on immigration reform.
Republicans and Democrats in Congress should come together in a bipartisan manner on a bill that combines improvements to border security and protections for Dreamers.
Please contact your lawmakers and ask them to work on passing a legislative solution for DACA before the Supreme Court issues its ruling.
God bless you, and may He continue to bless America.