Washington, DC – Around 10:30 AM today, Senator Richard Durbin will seek unanimous consent to pass the American Dream and Promise Act on the Senate floor. The bill, which cleared the House almost a year ago, would create a path to citizenship for people in the United States with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Temporary Protected Status (TPS).
Ahead of the vote, the Interfaith Immigration Coalition (IIC) sent a letter in support of the American Dream and Promise Act to the entire U.S. Senate and House. The letter was signed by over 4,500 people of faith from all fifty states and the District of Columbia. Watch Senator Durbin offer his unanimous consent motion on the Senate floor here.
The letter reads, in part:
As members and leaders in faith communities around the country, we greatly value our ability to welcome sojourners and believe in the sacred dignity of every person. Now more than ever is the time for Congress to pass a legislative solution to provide permanent security for the 800,000 eligible DACA recipients living in the United States.
Any proposal must support permanent relief for Dreamers without compromising the safety and livelihood of their families, pitting immigrant communities against each other, or pairing immigration relief for some populations with enforcement policies that endanger others.
The American Dream and Promise Act meets this requirement.
“The Trump administration has attempted to kill DACA and TPS, and claimed to support a ‘legislative solution.’ This is the test,” said Giovana Oaxaca, Government Relations Associate at NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, and a DACA recipient. “Will Senate Republicans finally do their jobs and pass this bill, which has already cleared the House? Or will they continue denying security and safety to me and more than one million of their constituents–including U.S.-born children horrified about how their parents are treated by those in power?”
Download the full letter here. See a related letter in support of H.R. 6 from 2019, signed by eighty-two faith-based organizations and over 500 leaders, here.
The Interfaith Immigration Coalition is made up of 55 national, faith-based organizations brought together across many theological traditions with a common call to seek just policies that lift up the God-given dignity of every individual. In partnership, we work to protect the rights, dignity, and safety of all refugees and migrants.
Follow us on Twitter @interfaithimm
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