Campaign Action
Hundreds of undocumented immigrant youth and their allies walked out of schools, work, and rallied at Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. today, demanding that Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and congressional leaders call a vote on a clean DREAM Act by December. According to immigrant youth organization United We Dream, 15 activists were arrested as hundreds packed into the Hart Congressional Building to unfurl an enormous banner. Numerous legislators, including California Sen. Kamala Harris, were there to stand in solidarity with immigrant youth:
The students were demanding a "clean" Dream Act, meaning legislation that stands by itself and is not tacked to other legislation.
[Trinity Washington University senior Bruna] Distinto, 22, was brought to the United States from Bolivia at the age of 6. Both she and her two sisters are DACA recipients. “This is personal for me,” she said.
Distinto and the other students say they picked Thursday because Congress is running out of time to pass legislation before the end of the year, and it's a good way to mark the anniversary of Trump’s election. The student walkouts from high schools and other institutions culminated in the rally on Capitol Hill. United We Dream and other organizations had been actively planning and promoting the events.
According to United We Dream, several of the detained activists have been released, including Abel, who traveled from Oregon to D.C. to call on legislators to act by December. “I’m 31 years old, and my DACA expires on February 5, 2019,” he said. “We’re putting our bodies on the line because we are tired to wait for politicians to give us a solution about this. This fight is gonna be hard, it might be very difficult, but it’s worth trying with everything we have to pass the DREAM Act.”
As America’s Voice notes, the day of action comes as nearly a dozen Republicans joined Democrats to pressure Ryan for a vote:
In January, at CNN Town Hall meeting, Speaker Paul Ryan told was questioned by DACA recipient about whether he wanted her to be deported. He replied, “I can see that you love your daughter and you are a nice person who has a great future ahead of you and I hope your future is here.” In a follow-up, Jake Tapper asked about DACA and Ryan replied, “Well, I think we have to come up with a solution for the DACA kids and that’s something we, in Congress, and the Trump transition team are working on, is what’s a good, humane solution.”
That was January and the only thing that’s happened is the end of DACA by the Trump Administration. Ryan hasn’t come up with a “good, humane solution” — and hasn’t tried. Today, several members of his GOP caucus made it clear they are ready to do that — while Ryan indicated that he’s dragging his feet.
Nearly a dozen House Republicans held a press conference this morning in support of pro-Dreamer legislation and the need to pass a bill by the end of this year.
“This is their home, this is where they’ve grown up, this is the language they speak,” said Florida Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, co-author of the House version of the DREAM Act. “And to tear them apart from this land that they love, would just be heartless… There’s a whole bunch of us who want to make this dream a reality and I stand ready to work alongside them.”
Even if you weren’t able to make any of today’s events, you can still help support undocumented immigrant youth by making a call to your member of Congress today to demand a clean vote on the DREAM Act now.