Cosecha Responds To Introduction of the DREAM Act Bill with a Renewed Commitment to Fight for Permanent Protection, Dignity and Respect for all 11 Million Undocumented Immigrants
Nationwide - Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Richard Durbin (D-IL) introduced a new Dream Act bill on Thursday, which if passed would grant a path to citizenship to immigrant youth who came to this country as children.
Below is the statement from Maria Fernanda Cabello, a DACA recipient and spokesperson for Movimiento Cosecha:
“For the last 20 years, politicians in Washington DC have made promise after promise to pass legislation that would grant permanent protection to our community. For the last 20 years we have watched with baited breath as negotiations fail and bills die. For the last 20 years we have seen both Republicans and Democrats failing to make good on their promises to our people, while administration after administration increases deportations and family separation.
In this current political climate, we find it hard to believe that a Dream Act bill would have any hope of passing, unless tied to dangerous enforcement measures that would hurt our parents, our families, and our communities.
With DACA under threat, we know that hundreds of thousands of young people and parents will put their hope in this bill. But we also know that we won DACA not because of any politician, but because our community took action. We marched, we walked-out, we stopped deportations and shut down detention centers. We took risks and put our bodies on the line to tell the people of this country that we were “Undocumented, Unafraid, and Unapologetic.” Today, as the Dream Act bill is reintroduced in DC, we choose to once again put faith in our community.
This moment is bigger than any piece of legislation. DACA is under attack while our parents, who were never even given the temporary protection DACA provides, are denied dignity and respect in a country that has never recognized them. We are done letting politicians decide who deserves permanent protection and who does not. We are done negotiating away our families, and promoting a narrative that excludes our parents. We are called once again to take bold action that will change the conversation on immigration in the United States. It is time for the immigrant community to show this country that it depends on us. We will not stop fighting until we have won permanent protection, dignity and respect for our parents, our communities, and all 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States.”