Securing Our Future: The Need for a Pathway to Citizenship for Dreamers
By Hannah Liu
For the past twelve years, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program has allowed hundreds of thousands of Dreamers — immigrants who entered the country as children — to go to school, work, and build their lives with lessened fears of deportation. However, this program was always meant to be replaced with a path to permanent status. This new CTAN fact sheet outlines how the consequences of Congressional inaction for the undocumented community will affect recipients, their families, and families across the country as a whole whether or not the courts decide to strike DACA down in imminent years.
CLASP, along with the Children Thrive Action Network, urges Congress to pass legislation like S. 365/H.R. 6 to secure a pathway to citizenship as permanent relief for all Dreamers. DACA recipients and their families should not have their livelihoods tied to the whims of the courts, and undocumented youth who call this country home should not continue to face an uncertain future.
In the meantime, we urge the Biden Administration to use all possible administrative levers to protect DACA recipients at risk of losing their status. Possible avenues include expanding and modernizing administrative immigration relief options for undocumented immigrants with U.S. citizen spouses, children, and other dependent family members.
