FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 20, 2021
Contact: media@dreamteamla.org
DREAM Team Los Angeles Expects Pathway to Citizenship for All 11 Million Undocumented
We at DREAM Team LA (DTLA) are closely watching Biden’s immigration proposal that includes a pathway to citizenship for all 11 million undocumented immigrants. For the almost 10 years of DACA, (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), a policy we drafted, we’ve been in limbo because it was meant to be a temporary stopgap until it could be replaced with something permanent. 10 years of seeing our parents suffer, waiting for something to be done for them.
Magybet, DTLA’s Program Director observes:
“They blame our parents for coming here, without acknowledging they gave up so much. Gave up homes. Gave up families. Gave up their parents. They have no way to see them. My own parents, like many others, could not go to funerals or even see the grave of their parents who died beyond the borders. They suffer in silence often not expressing themselves. And everyday fearing they will lose us through their own deportations. Immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship creates freedom for our parents. It allows them to reunify with their own parents.”
There has been too much waiting. Too much talk and inaction. Too much debate to advance political careers without advancing policy. Too much suffering of the immigrant community enduring decades of family separation.
We need a pathway to citizenship for all 11 million undocumented immigrants so they can reunite with the families they left behind and live without fear. If Biden is unable to pass legislation he must be prepared to act through Executive action immediately. If we have any lesson over the past four years the previous administration has laid the foundation for the broad executive authority of a president. Biden should act with no less authority to improve the lives of 11 million undocumented Americans and make good on his promise to reunite America.
Contact media@dreamteamla.org to arrange for interviews. Interviews in English and Spanish.
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