Risking arrest, immigrant youth and allies staged a “die-in” at the office of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, demanding a clean vote on the DREAM Act before Congress goes home for the holidays in December. The 44 activists participating in the action represented the 122 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients who lose their work permits and protection from deportation every single day that McConnell and Congress do not act.
“We know that there is no leadership coming from this office, that they are telling us that we can wait,” said one of the activists participating in the action. “We are here today at Sen. Mitch McConnell’s office because he’s supposed to represent leadership. But there are all the dreams of all these DACA recipients who are losing status laying here on the floor. We see all of these people, and all of their dreams, and all of their lives, and we have stories that we’re bringing from people who could not be here with us today.”
“McConnell says there is no urgency to pass a clean Dream Act this year,” United We Dream, the nation’s largest immigrant youth organization in the nation, said. “He is not taking the lives of over 11,000 immigrant youth who have already lost their DACA into consideration! Republicans are good at moving quickly with their agenda. They passed the tax bill at 2AM without regard for the American people. But when it comes to protecting immigrant youth and our families they show no will to work.”
Immigrant youth have no time to lose. Call Sen. Mitch McConnell today at 855-336-0788 and demand he pass a clean Dream Act before going home in December.