US Catholic bishops are calling for legislative action for Dreamers.
Dreamers are undocumented migrants who arrived in the US as children.
Bishop Joe Vásquez says the US Catholic Bishops conference supports the bipartisan “Uniting and Securing America” (USA) Act of 2018 as it is currently written.
Vásquez chairs the conference’s Committee on Migration.
The Act offers Dreamers with protection from deportation and a path to citizenship.
It also increases border security technology at the US/Mexico border.
There are various ways it achieves this.
New technology is one way. The Act also makes it possible to increase the number of immigration judges and Board of Immigration Appeals staff attorneys, and seeks to address root causes and prevent future irregular migration from Central America.
“We are hopeful our support of the current version of the USA Act, and our continued support of the Dream Act, will encourage Congress to act now and find a humane legislative solution for Dreamers,” Vásquez says.
“Every day, my brother bishops and I witness directly the constant anxiety of Dreamer youth and their families, and that experience of urgency moves us to press Congress for an immediate and durable solution to this problem.”
Vásquez’s announcement followed a Federal Judge’s statement that the Trump administration’s decision to terminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals programme was based on the “virtually unexplained” grounds that it was “unlawful.”
The programme protects Dreamers from deportation and allows them to work.
The judge stayed his decision for 90 days.
He has given the Department of Homeland Security the opportunity to better explain its reasoning for canceling the programme.
If the Department fails to offer a rationale, the judge will tell them to begin accepting and processing new applications. They will also have to renew applications for current DACA recipients.
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