The Coalition for the American Dream, a group composed of 80 businesses, called for lawmakers to pass legislation to prevent deportation of recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program after it was declared illegal.
The letter’s signatories, which include Amazon, Apple, General Motors, Microsoft, Target and Verizon as well as trade associations like the Chamber of Commerce, asked lawmakers to pass permanent, bipartisan legislative solutions to prevent the migrants from being deported, claiming the migrants provided economic value to the U.S. DACA, implemented by the Obama administration in 2012, allows immigrants who entered the country illegally and have been in the U.S. since they were children to stay in the country and gain work authorization, a process that is renewed every two years; however, the program was declared illegal by the 5th Circuit Court on Oct. 5. (RELATED: Biden Admin Promises Legal ‘Response’ After Court Declares DACA Illegal)
“The 5th Circuit Court’s ruling makes it clear that Congress cannot afford to ignore this issue any longer. Bipartisan measures have already been introduced in the U.S. House and Senate. We urge you to swiftly pass legislation this year that will help Dreamers, American businesses, and our country.
The 5th Circuit Court’s decision comes in response to a 2018 lawsuit filed by nine Republican states who contested the Obama administration’s program. The court ruled that the Obama administration did not have the power to dictate immigration policy, and closed the program to new applicants.
JUST IN — US Judge Andrew Hanen rules he will, for now, maintain DACA’s status quo, saying the 600,000 recipients will still be eligible to apply for two-year deportation protections, work permits.
However, he will continue prohibiting the approval of first-time DACA requests. pic.twitter.com/zYPSF0rr84
— Camilo Montoya-Galvez (@camiloreports) October 14, 2022
Though the DACA program is closed to new applicants, immigrants who are currently on two year work allowances will not be affected, Fox News reported; however, the Coalition fears DACA recipients, or “dreamers,” will slowly be blocked from reapplying as immigrants are deported on a “rolling basis.”
If reapplication is blocked, the end of the program will result in American companies losing an average of 22,000 employees per month as a whole, the companies and business groups argued. One thousand jobs will be lost per day, and the economy is expected to lose $11.7 billion annually.
“We write on behalf of thousands of U.S. businesses, large and small, that represent every major sector of the U.S. economy and more than half of America’s private sector workers. Collectively, we represent the backbone of an American economy facing tremendous workforce challenges as a result of the pandemic. We face another crisis if Congress fails to act on an issue that has strong bipartisan support from the American people,” the letter read.
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