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Static and Mobile Billboards, Community Events Urging #DreamActNow Greet Ryan Over Thanksgiving Holiday
JANESVILLE, WISCONSIN — New billboards urging a clean Dream Act will greet Speaker Paul Ryan as he heads home to Janesville for the Thanksgiving holiday this week, part of a continued partnership to protect Dreamers from the threat of deportation by MoveOn.org Civic Action, United We Dream, and Voces De La Frontera (VDLF).
The new billboards, pictured below, bring the nationwide call to pass a clean Dream Act by December directly to Ryan’s Wisconsin district and will be paired with constituent action and a series of digital and mobile billboards.
** See the static billboard, at 2816 Milton Ave:
Throughout Thanksgiving week, members of MoveOn.org, United We Dream, and Voces will also organize various activities to urge Ryan to pass a clean Dream Act by December. Polls show that nearly 90% of Americans support a permanent pathway to citizenship for immigrant youth who would be protected by the Dream Act; the billboard campaign seeks to turn this support into a wave of constituent energy calling for Speaker Ryan to introduce and pass a clean Dream Act by December.
The week’s events will center around a mobile billboard that bears an urgent message that families should not have to spend the holidays in fear of deportation. Starting on Wednesday, the mobile billboard will travel around Ryan’s district and feature both Dreamers’ images and a call for Speaker Ryan to protect Dreamers by passing a clean Dream Act before Christmas.
** See the mobile billboard, which will travel around Ryan’s district:
The American public, including Republicans, overwhelmingly support passage of a clean Dream Act, but the economics are also favorable. According to estimates by the conservative Cato Institute and liberal Center for American Progress, the U.S. economy would lose between $283 and $460 billion if Dreamers were not allowed to stay. The Center for American Progress found that passing the Dream Act would boost the U.S. economy by up to $1 trillion.
“Dreamers are in the fight of their lives. Trump’s termination of DACA left immigrant youth vulnerable to deportation, left American schools and workplaces in limbo, and the stakes are only getting higher every day that Republican leadership delays,” said MoveOn Platform Campaign Director Corinne Ball. “Congress cannot sit idly by as Dreamers are stripped from their communities. MoveOn members will continue to mobilize to ensure that a clean Dream Act is passed before the holidays.”
“Republican leader Paul Ryan must bring the bipartisan Dream Act to a vote before the end of the year. He has a moral choice to make: will he stand up and protect 2 million immigrant young people from deportation or will he allow Trump’s mass deportation agents to continue to rip families apart?” asked Cristina Jimenez, United We Dream’s Co-Founder and Executive Director.
“When I received DACA I was able to fulfill my dream to work in the medical field,” said Alejandra Govantes, a DACA recipient, pharmacy technician, and parishioner of Paul Ryan’s church, St. John Vianney in Janesville. “Passing a clean Dream Act with a path to citizenship for immigrant youth will help millions of families in this country stay together. We want Speaker Ryan to give us a chance to succeed and stay with our families.”
