Democrats to reintroduce Dream Act on March 12 with TPS and DED protections
House Democrats on March 12 will reintroduce the Dream Act with new language providing protections for Temporary Protected Status and Deferred Enforced Departure recipients.
California Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard will reintroduce the measure — which provides permanent legal protections and a path to citizenship for so-called Dreamers, undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children — as the Dream and Promise Act of 2019, according to her office.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi has reserved the bill number HR 6 for the legislation, which has long been a top priority of House Democrats.
In 2017, Democrats filed a discharge petition to try to force a floor vote on the measure since Republican leaders wouldn’t bring it up, but the petition failed to get enough signatures. During the 2018 midterms, Pelosi promised Democrats would bring the Dream Act to the floor if they won the majority.
Millions of Dreamers would benefit from the legislation, including the roughly 800,000 who have had legal protections under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. President Donald Trump has tried to end DACA, but federal courts have blocked him from doing so.
During negotiations over border security funding earlier this year that resulted in the 35-day partial government shutdown, Trump floated a temporary extension of DACA funding in exchange for money for a border wall, but Democrats rejected the offer. DACA recipients have said they did not want their legal status traded for the wall.
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