Thirty-four Republicans in the House of Representatives signed a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan calling for passage of a permanent DACA amnesty before the end of the year. Reps. Scott Taylor (R-Va.) and Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) led the effort.
While the lawmakers stop short of demanding passage of a DACA amnesty before the end of the year or including an amnesty in this month's must-pass spending bill, they don't insist on any other immigration-related provisions that would stop future flows of illegal immigration by calling for mandatory E-Verify or to reduce the numerical impact of the amnesty by calling for an end to Chain Migration.
The letter reads:
Dear Speaker Ryan,
We write in support of passing of a permanent legislative solution for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients before the end of the year. DACA recipients — young people brought to America through no fault of their own — are contributing members of our communities and our economy. For many, this is the only country they have ever known. They are American in every way except their immigration status.
Since DACA's inception, the federal government has approved approximately 795,000 initial DACA applications and 924,000 renewals. Since being approved for DACA status, an overwhelming majority of these individuals have enrolled in school, found employment, or have served in the military. Studies have shown that passing legislation to permanently protect these individuals would add hundreds of billions to our country's gross domestic product (GDP). That is why the business community, universities, and civic leaders alike support a permanent legislative solution.
We agree with President Trump that executive action was not the appropriate process for solving this issue, as was done under the previous administration, and we believe Congress should act. We are compelled to act immediately because many DACA recipients are about to lose or have already lost their permits in the wake of the program's rescission. Not acting is creating understandable uncertainty and anxiety amongst immigrant communities.
While we firmly believe Congress must work to address other issues within our broken immigration system, it is imperative that Republicans and Democrats come together to solve this problem now and not wait until next year. We all agree that our border must be enforced, our national security defended, and our broken immigration system reformed, but in this moment, we must address the urgent matter before us in a balanced approach that does not harm valuable sectors of our economy nor the lives of these hard-working young people. We must pass legislation that protects DACA recipients from deportation and gives them the opportunity to apply for a more secured status in our country as soon as possible. Reaching across the aisle to protect DACA recipients before the holidays is the right thing to do.
The following is a list of signers:
Rep. Scott Taylor (VA-2)
Rep. Dan Newhouse (WA-4)
Rep. Mia Love (UT-4)
Rep. Mark Amodei (NV-2)
Rep. David Valadao (CA-21)
Rep. Dave Reichert (WA-8)
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-8)
Rep. Mike Coffman (CO-6)
Rep. Charles Dent (PA-15)
Rep. Frank LoBiando (NJ-2)
Rep. Peter King (NY-2)
Rep. Carlos Curbelo (FL-26)
Rep. Illeana Ros-Lehtinen (FL-27)
Rep. Ryan Costello (PA-6)
Rep. Fred Upton (MI-6)
Rep. Jeff Denham (CA-10)
Rep. Rodney Davis (IL-13)
Rep. John Faso (NY-19)
Rep. John Katko (NY-24)
Rep. Chris Stewart (UT-2)
Rep. Susan Brooks (IN-5)
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (IL-16)
Rep. Glenn T. Thompson (PA-5)
Rep. Mike Simpson (ID-2)
Rep. Mimi Walters (CA-45)
Rep. Leonard Lance (NJ-7)
Rep. Pat Meehan (PA-7)
Rep. Elise Stefanik (NY-21)
Rep. Tom McArthur (NJ-3)
Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-4)
Rep. Jenniffer Gonzales-Colon (PR)
Rep. Joe Barton (TX-6)
Rep. Will Hurd (TX-23)
Rep. Bruce Poloquin (ME-2)
You can view the signed letter here.
