Biden admin urged to take steps to protect over 250K Documented Dreamers

This is because, in part, their families’ adjustment of status applications face extensive backlogs, preventing them from securing permanent resident status, the letter said.

The campaign was led by Senator Alex Padilla, Chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, and Border Safety, and Representative Deborah Ross, who have introduced a bipartisan legislative push to protect over 250,000 Documented Dreamers through America’s CHILDREN Act.

These young people grow up in the United States, complete their education in the American school system, and graduate with degrees from American institutions, wrote the lawmakers.

However, due to the long green-card backlog, families with approved immigrant petitions are often stuck waiting decades for permanent resident status.

While we continue to pursue legislative solutions to permanently protect these individuals, such as the bipartisan and bicameral America’s Children Act of 2023, we urge you to take administrative action to protect the thousands of children who may be forced to self-deport each year, continued the lawmakers.

Specifically, the lawmakers made three recommendations to help address the ongoing threats Documented Dreamers face.

This includes clarifying the use of deferred action on a case-by-case basis, where discretion is warranted, for children of long-term visa holders who age out of status; and expanding eligibility for Employment Authorisation to child dependents of visa holders and those with approved I-140 petitions (for a noncitizen worker to become a permanent resident in the United States).

It also called for creating a process to allow long-term visa holders who age out to seek parole, on a case-by-case basis, if warranted for urgent humanitarian reasons or to advance a significant public benefit.

First Published: Jun 14 2024 | 10:53 AM IST