Labor Unions: Senate DREAM Act Should Be Common Sense
Permanent Protections for Dreamers, DED, and TPS Holders is a Top Issue for Labor.
It’s Right for the Country, Right for the Economy, and the Right Thing to Do.
In response to Senators Durbin and Graham introduction of the DREAM Act ensuring permanent protections for qualifying immigrant youth, the Working Families United coalition issued the following:
Passing the DREAM Act is long overdue. Our unions applaud the proposal today and will push for its passage alongside its counterpart, the Dream and Promise Act, in the House.
It’s in no one’s interest to see immigrant youth or any worker forced back into the shadows or sent into exile. It is in all of our interests that they have uninterrupted rights, on-going opportunities, and stable futures to continue contributing to our workplaces, our communities and our unions.
With the introduction of the DREAM Act, momentum for permanent protections is visibly growing in Congress. The bill’s counterpart in the House, the Dream and Promise Act, now has 221 co-sponsors and is expected to come to a vote next month. The tax contributions and spending power of beneficiaries of the House bill are now available by congressional on an interactive map.
Working Families United is a coalition of seven labor unions, including the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, UNITE HERE, the Ironworkers, the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers, the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), Teamsters, and Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA). Together we represent four million members fighting for immigrant justice.
WFU formed in 2017 in response to the pending crisis caused by President Trump’s termination of Temporary Protected Status for 400,000 immigrant workers and their 275,000 US citizen children. Our members like Wilna Destin of UNITE HERE and Donaldo Posadas of the Painters Union are plaintiffs in separate class action lawsuits for El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, Sudan as well as Honduras and Nepal. Meanwhile the coalition urges Congress to pass the Dream and Promise Act in the House and its counterparts in the Senate, the DREAM Act and the Secure Act, to provide permanent protections and a path to citizenship for Dreamers and TPS holders from all affected nations.
