In an open letter to members of Congress today, Catholic Charities USA (CCUSA) welcomed the introduction of the Dream Act of 2017 in the United States Senate with optimism and hope.
In the letter CCUSA welcomed the legislation’s aim to protect immigrant youth who entered the United States as children and reiterated the “the uncompromising need to protect the dignity of every human being, particularly that of our children. It is both our moral duty and in our nation’s best interest to protect them and allow them to reach their God-given potential.” The letter further stresses that the legislation can be a first step toward comprehensive and holistic reform of U.S. immigration laws.
The “Dream Act of 2017” (H.R. 3440, S. 1615) is bipartisan legislation introduced in the House of Representatives by Congresswomen Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-40) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL-27), and in the Senate by Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Richard Durbin (D-IL) as a means to provide legal protection for current Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). The legislation offers DACA children a pathway to conditional permanent resident status and a path to full, lawful permanent residency and eventual citizenship.