FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 16, 2018

CONTACT
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Juan Gastelum, 213-375-3149
Hayley Burgess, 202-384-1279

DACA Crisis Requires a Narrow and Permanent Bipartisan Fix Now

NILC responds to introduction of Uniting and Securing America (USA) Act

WASHINGTON — Reps. Will Hurd (R-TX) and Pete Aguilar (D-CA) today introduced new bipartisan legislation to provide a pathway to U.S. citizenship for Dreamers. The bill would provide relief for immigrant youth who arrived in the U.S. as minors and allocate additional resources toward the border and other enforcement.

The bill introduction comes as Congress faces a Friday deadline to approve funding to keep the federal government running.

More than 16,000 recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, have lost protections since the Trump administration terminated the program in September.

Marielena Hincapié, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center, issued the following statement:

“For months, lawmakers and the American public have engaged in a conversation about resolving the urgent crisis created when President Trump terminated DACA. More than 80 percent of America agrees that Dreamers should have the opportunity to become U.S. citizens, and that we can’t keep immigrant youth and their families in their current precarious state any longer.

“Representatives Hurd and Aguilar have found a narrow, bipartisan solution that helps solve the problem we’re facing, a problem created by President Trump’s termination of the DACA program. The USA Act is a serious effort to address the concerns on both sides of the political aisle, a rare feat in the current political climate.

“However, this bill is not without flaws. While it does not include funding for an ineffective border wall, it does fail to recognize that what’s best for the border region is accountability, investment, and infrastructure, not more military tactics and drones. Border communities are dynamic and vibrant. They need commerce, not militarization at taxpayer expense.”

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