Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals

Floor Speech

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Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak about the recent decision made by the Trump administration to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program.

By ending the DACA program, this administration leaves 800,000 people, mostly young adults and children, without any legal protections.

DACA gives these individuals, most of whom were brought to the United States as very young children, the opportunity to work hard, study hard, sustain their families, and contribute to their communities. DACA recipients are taxpayers, they are students, they are soldiers, and they are our neighbors.

I would like to mention one DACA recipient that I know. Her name is Jacqueline. Jacqueline was brought to the United States when she was 2 years old. She excelled in school and was an Advancement Via Individual Determination--or what we call AVID--student in high school. She did very well. She was a strong candidate for admission to many of our top universities.

When DACA was announced in 2012, it helped Jacqueline come out of the shadows and pursue her educational dreams. She did exactly that, and now she is a double major. She is doing very well. DACA gave Jacqueline and her family hope for a better future. It gave her a chance at the American Dream.

By ending DACA, this administration is taking away the hopes of 800,000 DREAMers like Jacqueline and threatening their deportation to countries that are very unfamiliar to them, places they may have never known--except, of course, when they were 2--and they have no family there.

I would like to thank the religious leaders who have come forward and have urged us to do the right thing and to pass a law to allow these kids and these young adults to stay here and to participate in our community as they have been doing.

I would like to read a letter now that was written by the religious leaders here in Washington to the President.
As leaders of the three Abrahamic faiths, we look to our sacred texts and traditions in seeking to follow the way of peace.

Our respective teachings are clear, and we speak with one voice when we say:

Supporting the dreams of young immigrants in the United States is consistent with the foundational values of our Nation and with the moral imperative of extending hospitality to the stranger, of caring for immigrants and children, and of loving our neighbors as ourselves.

Nearly 1 million young immigrants have benefited from the DACA program since its inception in 2012. Among that number, many of the program recipients are members of our respective faith communities as well as the communities we mentor in and around the Nation's Capital.

We have witnessed firsthand the relief and pride in our young people's faces as they finally came to feel validated and safe by participating in a program that made them feel more at home--in the only country that they have ever really considered their home.

But now anxiety and fear for their future has returned.

We note that DACA has widespread support across the country and among politicians who agree on little else, for good reason. DACA has dramatically improved the lives of these young people and the communities in which they live:

Ninety-five percent of the DACA participants are working or attend high school;

Sixty-eight percent of those working have seen their pay increase and, thus, are paying higher taxes; Fifty percent now have driver's licenses, which makes the roads safer for everyone;

Fifty-four percent have purchased their first car; and Twelve percent have purchased their first home.

Rescinding DACA would have a widespread, devastating impact not only on a generation of industrious young people, but also on their families, communities, and our society as a whole.

Thus, we add our voices to those urging you, Mr. President, to keep this policy in place until Congress puts in place a permanent solution.

It is our collective prayer that in the coming months congressional leaders work together to pass sensible and comprehensive immigration reform that our country so desperately needs, including making the DACA program permanent.

But until that time comes, the least that our country can do is to continue supporting our DREAMers. Keep DACA in place, Mr. President.

Faithfully,

The Right Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington;

Rabbi Bruce Lustig, Senior Rabbi of Washington Hebrew Congregation;

Imam Talib M. Shareef, The Nation's Mosque; His Eminence Donald Cardinal Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington.

Mr. Speaker, we can do the right thing. We can pass comprehensive immigration reform, and we should. But at least we can pass DACA.

I know, Mr. Speaker, that there is goodwill on both sides. Let's come together over this and do the right thing as our community leaders and as our religious leaders are asking us.

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