Contact: Rep. Crowley
608.266.5580

Milwaukee, Wisconsin – This week, Attorney General Jeff Beauregard Sessions announced the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, commonly known as DACA. In response, the following members of the Milwaukee Democratic Legislative Caucus made the following statement:

“In America, Dreamers have a profound impact on our economy. Ninety percent (90%) of DACA recipients are employed, working more than 40 hours a week, and are twice as likely to become entrepreneurs as the general population. This move is morally corrupt and financially senseless. Removing DACA, will mean removing hundreds of thousands of young people from the workforce.  It is estimated that the loss of all DACA workers would reduce U.S. gross domestic product by $433 billion over the next 10 years.

“Let us be clear and call Trump’s decision to end DACA what it is: One of the most racist, inhumane, and unfounded acts of any US president in recent history. This is an undeniable move by Trump to pander to his white nationalist supporters and nothing more. Most, if not all, of the 800,000 young people that received the right to work legally in the country and relative protection from deportation, know no other home but the United States, with average of age arriving in the states being 6 years old. They are Americans and their President is failing them.

“This new move from the Trump Administration to target and label a segment of our nation, who came to this country as children through no fault of their own, as ‘illegal’ and not worthy of establishing their lives here is beyond cold-hearted and an extension of a white supremacist mindset that must end. The only people who originally lived in America are our Native American brothers and sisters. This means the rest of us are immigrants and should extend a welcoming hand to all people who want to invest their lives on land that prides itself on the value of freedom.

“In our state, 7,565 of our neighbors are Dreamers, taken from their birth countries to the United States at a young age because of the harsh economic and political realities. Prior to becoming Dreamers, they’ve lived in the shadow of fear of deportation and were restricted in how far their dreams and aspirations could take them, all because of a choice in which they had no say. We have heard countless stories of how this program has positively changed the lives of recipients and how they have in turn contributed positively to the American economy. Now their lives, and that of 792,000 other young people around the country and that of their families, are being used as pawns in a sick and twisted political game.

“Unless they are in agreement with this kind of bigotry and heartlessness, it is crucial that our colleagues on both sides of the aisle speak out against this decision, too. Silence is not an option.”

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