Andres Del Aguila/TMN Intern
Orginally published by TMN
Congressional Democrats warned President Donald Trump will deport over 800 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) recipients serving in the military if a clean Dream Act is not signed into law.
“These brave men and women have raised their hand to serve and lay down their lives if necessary for the only country they know,” Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois told reporters during a Thursday news conference. “If Congress fails to pass the Dream Act, these young people could be forced to leave the military and be placed at risk of being deported from the country they have volunteered to serve.”
DACA, a 2012 Obama-era executive order, temporarily shielded from deportation 800,000 young immigrants who were brought to the United States as children or teenagers.
The Dream Act, which is cosponsored by Durbin, will provide lawful permanent status to DACA recipients.
There are over 800 DACA recipients serving the U.S. through the 2009 Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest program, which expedites citizenship for immigrants if they enlist.
Now that the DACA program is set to expire in March 2018, their service has come into question.
Trump told Republican senators during a Nov. 2 meeting at the White House to prohibit the required end-of-year spending bill from being a legislative vehicle for a DACA fix.
Trump demanded for the DACA fix to be coupled with enhanced border security and reforms to immigration policy.
“He gave us until early March and he expects a solution but any solution to DACA’s got to include an ending to chain migration,” Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.), who attended the meeting, told reporters.
Trump tweeted in September that he will revisit the issue if Congress fails to act.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), an Iraq war veteran and double amputee, joined Durbin to express the need to protect DACA recipients in the military.
“They are stepping up to make the sacrifice in order to strengthen our nation’s military – in order to strengthen and protect our democracy,” Duckworth said.
She argued these service members have skills, such as knowing different languages and having different cultural backgrounds, that are critical to U.S. operations “in all the corners of this Earth.”
Read more: www.talkmedianews.com/featured/2017/11/09/democrats-defend-dreamers-military-2/
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