For Immediate Release: June 21, 2018
Contact: Michael Earls at 202-494-8555 and [email protected]
TheDream.US Expresses Opposition to House Immigration Proposals Set for Votes Today
Washington, DC – TheDream.US, the nation’s largest college access and success program for undocumented immigrant youth, today issued the following statement expressing opposition to two House immigration bills pending for votes today: Rep. Bob Goodlatte’s “Securing America’s Future Act,” and Speaker Paul Ryan’s “Border Security and Immigration Reform Act.”
The organization, which has provided more than 4,000 scholarships to students with DACA and TPS at more than 70 partner colleges in 15 states, believes that all young people, regardless of where they were born, should have the opportunity to fulfill their potential, gain an education, and fully participate in the country that they call home.
The following is a statement from Gaby Pacheco, Director of Advocacy, Development, and Communications at TheDream.US:
“It’s in all of our interests for Congress to work together to deliver legislation that resolves the crisis facing DREAMers and, in the process, upholds American values and advances our national interests. Unfortunately, the House immigration bills set for votes this week fail to live up to those standards. In addition to our strong opposition to the Goodlatte bill, which does little to change the status-quo for DREAMers, we also oppose the legislation negotiated and introduced by Speaker Ryan. Instead of the promised fair ‘compromise’ bill, we are disappointed that the current version of this legislation would fail to resolve the crisis facing most DREAMers while advancing a host of other harmful provisions for immigrants and America.
For DREAMers, the Ryan bill would establish overly restrictive eligibility criteria and rely on an untested point system that, according to analysis from the Cato Institute, would result in 82% of Dreamers not qualifying for its citizenship provisions. The Ryan bill also would place unacceptable conditions on the process – including tying the viability of DREAMers’ accessing citizenship to the status and allocation of DHS border funding.
While failing to sufficiently address the needs of DREAMers – and the country – the Ryan bill also would advance a series of other far-reaching provisions that could harm DREAMers who do not qualify for the eligibility criteria, as well as DREAMers’ parents, families, and communities.
We remain supportive of congressional action that resolves DREAMers’ crisis and recognize the merits of such bipartisan approaches as the Senate amendment introduced by Mike Rounds (R-ID) and Angus King (I-ME) and the House bill championed by Republican Rep. Will Hurd (R-TX) and Democratic Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA). But we cannot support the current version of legislation being advanced this week in the House of Representatives and call on our friends, allies, and others who sincerely care about the best interests of DREAMers to join us in opposing these bills and to continue working towards a fair and real legislative solution.”
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