Chair. I am very disturbed by the nature of this Blackburn amendment because it would prevent the use of Federal funds or resources to consider or adjudicate any new. renewal. or any previously denied application for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. DACA. or any subsequently similar program. This amendment is similar to the same Blackburn bill that passed the House in August of 2014. This amendment clearly terminates the DACA program. the DREAMers. ladies and gentlemen. my colleagues. The amendment prevents new persons from applying for DACA and explicitly prohibits further efforts to renew deferred action under this amendment. Hundreds of thousands of young people who came forward. passed background checks. obtained DACA. and have since followed the law would be deportable at the end of their 2year deferred action period. This is serious. it is dangerous. The amendment is antiimmigrant and antifamily. This is a vote to deport DREAMers. These applicants who have applied have positive impacts on both job growth and economy. The amendment would leave DACA applicants without work authorization and would expose many of them to deportation to a country that they dont even know. We should be passing legislation to keep DACA recipients in our country because they have a net impact on our communities. The amendment is one more of the same antiimmigranttype rhetoric that has dominated conservatives and is further evidence that the majority is not interested in fixing our broken immigration system. but is only interested in penalizing members of our community who seek to work. go to school. and remain with their family. I reserve the balance of my time.
Keywords matched
antiimmigrant immigration DACA deportable antiimmigranttype deportation