NYC Gazette

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke joined Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia (D-TX) and her fellow co-author Nydia M. Velázquez (D-NY) to reintroduce the American Dream and Promise Act which seeks to overhaul our nation’s immigration system by strengthening protections for recipients of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), protecting recipients of TPS and DACA from deportation, and creating a more comprehensive pathway to citizenship.

“It has been eleven years since we first gave temporary legal protection to people who were brought to this country as children. And on the anniversary of the Deferred Action For Childhood Arrivals program, we have 600,000 people waiting in limbo as a federal judge considers the future of this program. A program, by the way, that helped many of them go to college and grad school to buy homes and to start businesses. We’re talking about healthcare workers providing critical patient care, educators teaching our children, folks in the food supply chain, as food travels from farms to dinner tables. We’re talking about people already making major economic and fiscal contributions to our nation each and every year. Their contributions as the economy recovers are real,” said Congresswoman Clarke.

“But a pathway to citizenship would boost these folks to new heights, especially as the United States tracks its course for economic recovery. To deliver for Dreamers is to deliver for America. I am so proud to stand with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to reintroduce the American Dream and Promise Act. Because the greatness of the American Dream is the belief that any single person can come to this land of opportunity that allows the possibility of upward mobility, freedom and equality for people of all races, classes, and religions who work hard and have the will to succeed. It’s time for real solutions that will invest in America’s immigration system and in our nation’s growth and development, and ensure it remains a bastion of opportunity for all of us. And I’m proud to stand by my colleagues’ sides, demanding that we do just that,” Clarke continued. 

“My parents came to the United States In the 1950s as foreign students. My district has many people from around the world. It’s an immigrant portal. I have many Dreamers that are living in my constituency at this very moment who are seeking the opportunity for a pathway to citizenship. We have worked hard and long on immigration in this Congress. We have not met the goal yet. But we are not giving up. We are by no means going to relent. We will not stop until we reach that dream and that promise for each and everyone who has been seeking this and comprehensive immigration reform at the end of the day. It’s my honor and my privilege to be here with you all today. Let’s keep the pressure on. Let’s go out and get this win.” 

The full press conference can be viewed here.

Photographs from the press conference can be viewed here. 

Original source can be found here.