Aguilar Reaffirms Support for Dreamers on Sixth Anniversary of Dream Act
Today, Rep. Pete Aguilar reaffirmed his support for Dreamers on the sixth anniversary of the Dream Act passing the House of Representatives. The Dream Act would have established a path to legal status for Dreamers, or undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children. In 2010, The Dream Act passed the House of Representatives but failed to pass the Senate. Under President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, hundreds of thousands of Dreamers were granted work permits and temporary status. The future of Dreamers has become uncertain since President-elect Trump promised to deport millions of undocumented immigrants.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty out there, so I want to make it clear that I will continue to be an advocate for our immigrant community, and my office will always be a safe space,” said Rep. Aguilar. He added, “We don’t know what lies ahead in the Trump Administration, but we do know that California’s leaders from the local, state and federal levels are committed to working together to protect the freedom and futures of Dreamers.”
Rep. Aguilar has been an ardent supporter of comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship and has sponsored numerous bills and measures in support of the immigrant community. He regularly convenes his Immigration Advisory Board to discuss issues facing the immigrant community, and earlier this year introduced the Academic Success Centers and Education Networks for Dreamers (ASCEND) Act, which creates a grant program to allocate four-year awards to centers and clubs that support Dreamers on college campuses. In recent weeks, Rep. Aguilar joined his colleagues to call on President Obama to pardon DACA recipients to ensure their safety from deportation under the next Administration.
In the 115th Congress, Rep. Aguilar will serve as the Whip of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, where he will play a pivotal role on the leadership team to help direct the caucus’s priorities to help lift Hispanic communities in the Inland Empire and throughout the nation.
