These
young people were brought to the United States as children, sometimes
as babies. For many of them, this country is the only home they have
ever known. I should say up front that we need comprehensive
immigration reform for our security and our economy. Our Nation's immigration system is broken, and it hurts families,
workers, businesses, and farmers each and every day. But targeting
these young people who have come to our country through their parents--
their parents bringing them as children--does nothing to solve the
larger issues that we need to address in the Senate and in the House. To remind everyone, to be eligible for the Deferred Action for
Childhood Arrivals Program, which we call DACA, young people have to
have entered the United States before their 16th birthday. They must be
attending school, have graduated or earned their GED, or have been
honorably discharged from the U.S. military, and they must not have
been in trouble with the law. Those are pretty good principles for all
of us--following the law and working hard. When anyone does that, they
should know that our country has their back. Those who were approved for DACA were given a legal status to remain
here and a work permit so that they could work and contribute to our
country. We made these young people a promise, and we need to keep it. I feel very strongly that whether it is our veterans, our people in the
military going to war who are protecting us every day, who are serving
our country--we made them a promise that they would have healthcare,
among other promises, to make sure that veterans are not at the back of
any line.
Keywords matched
immigration work permit DACA