Bipartisan effort introduces bill to keep the Dreamers in the U.S.

About 18,000 Asian/Americans are registered in the  DACA program.

A BIPARTISAN group of lawmakers that included California Sen. Kamala Harris and Rep. Judy Chu introduced a bill to protect undocumented young people brought to the United States as children should the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program be discontinued under the incoming administration of Donald Trump.

"DACA is not a partisan issue — it’s an issue that touches on respect, justice, dignity, and equality," said Harris. 

The Bar Removal of Individuals who Dream and Grow our Economy (BRIDGE) Act, which was first introduced in the Senate late last year, would provide temporary relief from deportation and work authorization to undocumented youth. 

About 740,000 young people known as Dreamers, 18,000 of which are Asian/Americans, would be affected if DACA is repealed.

Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) introduced the bill in the Senate and Representatives Mike Coffman (CO-06) and Luis V. Gutiérrez (IL-04) are introducing companion legislation in the House of Representatives.

“In my view, the DACA Executive Order issued by President Obama was unconstitutional and President-elect Trump would be right to repeal it," said Graham. "However, I do not believe we should pull the rug out and push these young men and women -- who came out of the shadows and registered with the federal government -- back into the darkness. 

"Our legislation continues to provide legal status to them for three years as Congress seeks a permanent solution. These young people have much to offer the country and we stand to benefit from the many contributions they will make to America."

The BRIDGE act is a temporary measure that would give Congress time to come up with a permanent resolution the dilemma of the Dreamers.

"While we strongly support these efforts to save DACA, we have grave concerns about placing anyone in permanent second-class status," said Mee Moua, executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice. 

"Asians Americans were the first immigrants to be excluded from the U.S. based on race and national origin. Beginning with the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, Asians were effectively barred from immigrating to the U.S. and ineligible for citizenship,"

The BRIDGE Act has broad support from the faith, business, higher-education, civil rights, and immigrant communities. This week, 88 business leaders from around the country sent a letter to President-elect Trump and House and Senate leadership asking them to support the BRIDGE Act.

Rep. Gutierrez added that immigrants do not detract from American society: “The DREAMers who have DACA are not competing with Americans for a slice of the pie, they are helping to bake a bigger pie for our country and our economy.”

A report last month determined that a reverse of DACA would slash the country’s GDP by $433 billion over the next decade, including losses in contributions to Social Security and Medicare.

Sen. Harris said that people had shared stories about the crying children of immigrants and Muslims asking their parents if they were going to be sent away, and that law enforcement officials told her they worried victims of crimes would not report incidents out of fear that the police would turn them over to be deported.

“I feel very strongly that California’s voice must be a voice of leadership in Washington, D.C., on all the issues that we discussed,” she said. “We have an outsized stake in the outcome of the conversation about immigrants … and I feel very strongly that we must defend all people.”