Juan Vargas was elected to the congress in 2012. Various versions of the Dream Act has been floating around the American Capitol for about twice as long.
The Democrat of San Diego has long been passionate about the protection of immigrants, whether in the country legally or not.
He also supported repeated attempts to grant a permanent residence to immigrants who have been brought to the United States illegally as a child, people often called “dreamers”.
“For me, it’s not abandoned,” he said in an interview last week.
The popular program which gives hundreds of thousands of dreamers of temporary legal status – DACA, or delayed action for children’s arrivals – has hung up by the disappearance.
President Donald Trump tried to kill the DACA during his first mandate, President Barack Obama did not have the power to create the program in 2012. Although the courts maintained the DACA alive while the legal challenges take place, the decisions have questioned his future. Trump and his allies say that policy requires the approval of the congress.
Vargas recently joined 200 members of the Congress, including other Democrats from the San Diego delegation, to reintroduce the American Dream and Promise Act, which would provide a path to citizenship for some 2.7 million immigrants, mainly young people, including DACA beneficiaries.
“As the son of first -generation immigrants and American, I know what the American dream looks like. Dreamers deserve these same opportunities, “said Vargas in a statement after the reintroduction of the bill.
The bill would also include people who have had temporary protected status and have been in the United States since 2017. The bill would exclude TPS holders who have arrived more recently.
But the reality is that there may not have been a less conducive political climate to advance such legislation since the original law of development, help and education for extraterrestrial minors (dream) was introduced in 2001.
“Do I think it’s a useless gesture?” No, “said Vargas, adding:” I think there is an opportunity to do something when things calm down. “”
On the one hand, Vargas has acknowledged that the climb may seem even more steep with the repression of Trump on the application of borders and mass expulsion plans of undocumented immigrants, who could include dreamers and possibly the beneficiaries of the DACA.
In the interview, Vargas has sometimes invoked chances of expressions of ratings such as “Keep Hope Alive”.
But he referred to the recent and past comments of Trump as reasons of the kept optimism.
“We have to do something for dreamers because these are people who have been brought here to a very young age,” said Trump on “Meet The Press” in NBC in December. “I want to be able to find something. … I think we can work with the Democrats and work something. »»
It was a familiar speech by Trump during his first mandate, when the law on the Dreams Act went nowhere. But Vargas suggested that on Dreamers at least, Trump is in a position similar to President Richard Nixon when the agitated anti-communist surprised the world by establishing links with the People’s Republic of China in 1972.
“He has the capacity, as Nixon went to China, to say” listen, not these young people “, said Vargas, concerning potential deportations.
Given the difficult position of Trump’s immigration, Vargas said that the president would probably have “no political harmful effect” by giving the dreamers a permanent legal status.
Vargas still believes that compromises can be made to happen, if necessary, although he noted that he had entered the political hot water with other democrats and defenders of immigrants to support a controversial compromise before.
The Republicans of the Chamber wanted to strip the component of citizenship from a bill while authorizing the legal residence for dreamers. Vargas didn’t like him, but thought it could be a step forward. The opponents said that this would create second -class residents, then the Democratic chief of Maison Nancy Pelosi called him “aberrant value”, according to Vargas.
“If we could have this agreement today, we pray to the Virgin of Guadalupe to have it,” he said in the interview. “Let’s help as many people as possible.”
However, he hypothesized that certain Republicans may no longer be opposed to a path to citizenship for dreamers. Vargas said he thought that members of the Congress of the GOP opposed that these new citizens would vote against them. Ironically, he saw a silver lining for dreamers in Trump’s victory in November.
“Even if Trump demonized immigrants, especially Mexicans … A lot of Latinos voted for him,” said Vargas.
Over the years, opponents have said that the Dream Act would grant amnesty to undocumented immigrants and encourage increased migration to the United States, the others wanted to see the proposal in the context of a complete immigration reform.
A Gallup survey revealed that 55% of Americans wanted to reduce global immigration, an increase in previous surveys. But 70% of those questioned favored, allowing immigrants to the United States illegally living in the United States to become American citizens if they meet certain requirements over a period of time.
Support increased to 81% for immigrants who were brought to the United States illegally as a child.
The inhabitants of the DACA have proven to be a boon for the American economy, according to research from Congress, Brookings Institution and others.
In 2023, 94.1% of the beneficiaries of the DACA interviewed were used, compared to 89.2% in 2019, according to the Center for American Progress. Almost half have university degrees and more than half have evolved into better jobs.
The inhabitants of the DACA cannot undergo a condemnation for crime, a condemnation for an important crime, or three convictions for crime or more.
The Vargas office cited the estimates that the DACA beneficiaries in 2022 earned nearly 27.9 billion dollars and contributed nearly $ 2.1 billion to social security and maladie, although it was not eligible for these advantages under the current law.
Maybe calling on Trump’s transactional nature would work. He recently declared that the United States will sell “gold cards” to foreigners rich for $ 5 million, giving them the right to live and work here and put it on the path of citizenship.
DACA recipients and dreamers collectively bring much more – to the economy and to American society.
The Vargas representative will tell you everything about this.
What they said
Associated Press
“President Johnson tells the GOP legislators to skip the town halls after an attack on protests.”
California Daily Newspapers
