The Dream must not be allowed to die
America can't afford it.
By Veena Iyer, Laura Bordelon, B Kyle and Jonathan Weinhagen
July 22, 2021 — 5:45pm
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Earlier this month, a federal district court judge in Texas declared the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program (DACA) illegal, upending the lives of millions of Dreamers. The decision will undoubtedly be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which can and should overturn the ruling. But the Senate is in the best position to respond to this ruling — by creating a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers.
Currently, 600,000 Dreamers nationwide, including more than 5,000 in Minnesota, are DACA recipients. DACA affords Dreamers, undocumented young people who were brought to this country as children, protection from deportation and employment authorization so long as the program continues. But as the past four years have shown, the existence of DACA is precarious.