U.S. Reps. Yvette D. Clarke (D-Brownsville, Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Flatbush, Kensington, Midwood, Prospect Heights, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Park Slope) and Nydia Velazquez (D-Northern Brooklyn, Lower Manhattan, Queens) yesterday introduced immigration legislation aimed at finding a pathway to citizenship for both U.S.-raised immigrant youth known as “Dreamers” and for refugees that came here for political and/or natural disaster reasons.
Dubbed The Dream and Promise Act, the measure is the 116th Congress’s version of the Dream Act, a bill which has been introduced since 2001 to allow “Dreamers” to earn lawful permanent residence and American citizenship. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and U.S. Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA) were also prime sponsors of the measure.
“This bill will include a path to citizenship for Dreamers, as well as for people covered by Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and Deferred Enforced Departure (DED). This bill builds upon the Dream Act, the American Promise Act, and the ASPIRE TPS Act, which I introduced last Congress,” said Clarke.
The announcement of the legislation comes as Trump administration extended TPS for Haiti, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Sudan until January 2, 2020.
TPS is part of the Federal Immigration Act of 1990, which provides temporary protected status to immigrants in the United States who are temporarily unable to safely return to their home country because of ongoing armed conflict, environmental disasters, or other extraordinary and temporary conditions.
TPS currently protects the rights of more than 50,000 Haitian immigrants and their families to live and work in the United States, about 5,400 of whom live in New York City, predominately in Flatbush, Canarsie, Crown Heights, and East Flatbush as well as in the Queens neighborhoods of Cambria Heights, Queens Village, Springfield Gardens, Jamaica and Rosedale.
DED allows certain individuals from designated countries and regions facing political or civic conflict or natural disaster to stay in the United States. DED is a temporary immigration benefit. It provides an administrative stay of removal designated for specific period of time.
“For two years, the Trump Administration has viciously targeted some of our most vulnerable immigrant communities creating a climate of uncertainty and fear. Whether it is Dreamers who arrived here as children or TPS or DED recipients who came here fleeing desperate conditions, we need to make clear to these immigrants – our friends and neighbors – that we stand with them and they are here to stay,” said Velázquez.
The last federal immigration reform act came under the President Ronald Reagan administration and was signed in 1986. Dubbed The Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), allowed roughly 3.5 million undocumented immigrants a pathway to citizenship.
Since then, both Democratic and Republican controlled congresses, as well as Democratic and Republican presidential administrations have failed to enact any kind of immigration reform.
According to FactCheck.org, there are about 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S.
