“These men and women who crossed the border when they were children through no decision of their own are now contributing to our country. These are moral and spiritual issues, which is why we pastors are calling for our senators to support this effort.” – Rev. Dr. Gabriel Salguero, President and Founder, National Latino Evangelical Coalition (NALEC)
TALLAHASSEE – Today, prominent Florida business, faith, and higher education leaders, Dreamers and other allies joined American Business Immigration Coalition (ABIC) Action to urge Senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott to support, in this lame-duck session, a bipartisan immigration package introduced by Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) and Thom Tillis (R-NC).
The package, among other provisions, would provide a pathway to citizenship for the country’s roughly 2 million Dreamers—young people brought undocumented to the U.S. as children, some but not all of whom have been allowed to stay, work, and study here legally under DACA.
“If DACA is struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court, it will cause untold devastation, not only for Dreamers and their families, but also for the Florida industries that have come to rely on their hard work,” said ABIC Action Florida State Director Samuel Vilchez Santiago. “There are about two open jobs for every person out of work. Taking hundreds of thousands out of the labor force will further fuel inflation and exacerbate supply chain challenges… ”This lame duck session represents the last time a solution for Dreamers could be reached for years. Senators Rubio and Scott should support the Sinema-Tillis bipartisan framework as a way of strengthening Florida’s economy and delivering on border security.”
Florida Dreamers also weighed in on the need for a pathway to citizenship. “When I applied to DACA, my life instantly changed. I was given opportunities I never could have imagined. I was able to go to college and get a job and driver’s license—something that was so basic to many other people meant the world to me and my family,” said Florida Dreamer Silvia Ruiz. “And that is why we’re here asking Sen. Rick Scott and Sen. Marco Rubio to support the Dream Act during this session. Because that is exactly what that it will mean to millions of Dreamers who would be overwhelmed and joyous for this legislation. Because it means hope, security, and that we’re here and we exist. As the holidays are coming around, we’d love to spend that time with our families in peace so that we can stay together.”
“It’s so stressful to live under that shadow of ‘what’s gonna happen to DACA?’ I can’t even explain to you the anxiety that some of us have just thinking about it. So I’d just really like to ask Senators Rubio and Scott to really support this legislation,” said Florida Dreamer Lorena Jofre. “It’s been 10 years now and we need to look beyond that. I don’t think Dreamers need to prove themselves any more than what we have. I feel like we deserve legislation and Florida has the nation’s third highest population of Dreamers behind California and Texas, so I don’t see why these Florida Senators wouldn’t get behind this legislation.”
Faith leaders appealed to the senators’ sense of doing the right thing. “For us as pastors, this is not a partisan issue. This is a moral issue. These men and women who crossed the border when they were children through no decision of their own are now contributing to our country,” said Rev. Dr. Gabriel Salguero, President and Founder, National Latino Evangelical Coalition (NALEC). “These are moral and spiritual issues, which is why we pastors are calling for our senators to support this effort. So the many Sylvias across the country may not live in fear.”
“I’m a business owner with about 79 teammates in Florida working on the ground in partnership with evangelical Latino churches. There are many divisions in our country—that is not a surprise. But this issue of giving a path to citizenship for Dreamers is the one topic that has the most support across Latino and white evangelical churches, said Lisa Treviño Cummins, Member of the National Association of Evangelicals and President of Urban Strategies. “This is low-hanging fruit, something we can all agree on. The Dreamers represent the best of American ideals. They’re in our churches, studying, working hard, giving back to their communities—all under the incredible stress of wondering whether they have a future in the state of Florida.”
Members of Florida’s law enforcement community also support the efforts. “As a former law enforcement official, I can say that the safety of our country is something we never want to compromise on. But we’re also a country best known for our humanitarian abilities in the way we’ve always dealt with the needs of those beyond our borders. We’ve been protectors—the country looked at as one that will come to the rescue,” said former Orlando Chief of Police Orlando Rolón. To afford someone the opportunity of a better life when their wish to stay in their country is prevented by situations beyond their control—we have to have a path that will create the ability for individuals like Sylvia to have a path to gain citizenship. The time to act is now..”
Business and education leaders also pointed out the critical role Dreamers play in the U.S. workforce.
“If we have an honest dialogue and look at who are the people building our homes, serving in our restaurants, that are working every day to make America what it is–it’s that immigrant spirit. We can’t deny that. And we see that in the school district. These students want to attend college. There was great uncertainty about that before DACA. These students want to pay taxes, start businesses, and contribute to society,” said Osceola County School Board Member Julius Melendez.
“We get calls every single day from companies requesting help with finding employees and (if DACA is struck down) could cost a very difficult situation. We go to a restaurant and we have to wait such a long time for us to be served, and the reality is that there’s two open jobs for every person out of work,” said Lourdes León, President of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Volusia. “Taking hundreds of thousands out of the labor force will further fuel inflation and accelerate the supply challenges so we have to act now and I really think this is something that we have to take into consideration.”
Background
DACA’s success has unleashed the economic potential of almost 800,000 people, allowing them to contribute to our economy, start families, buy homes, access healthcare, build businesses, and bring their talents to the industry sectors where they’re most needed. Three quarters of DACA participants in the workforce—343,000 people—are essential workers. Of those, 34,000 provide healthcare services and 11,000 work tirelessly keeping our hospital and clinic facilities up and running. As our nation faces a teacher shortage, 20,000 DACA recipients are working with kids in classrooms across the country. About 100,000 DACA recipients work in the nation’s food supply chain—roles that are more important than they have ever been in the wake of COVID’s disruptions.
But for too long, DACA participants have been vulnerable to government indecision that has kept their lives in legal limbo and filled them with anxiety and uncertainty. And DACA’s strict timeframes omit thousands of individuals who need it. More than 427,000 undocumented students are currently enrolled in postsecondary institutions, and of these, less than half (181,000) are DACA-elligible. Similarly every year, nearly 100,000 undocumented students graduated U.S. high schools, but only one quarter are DACA-eligible.
DACA has been a transformative program for both its recipients and the country, demonstrating why expanding opportunities for immigrants is good for all of America—but it’s not enough. Now is the time to build on the success of DACA and pass bipartisan legislation that provides a path to citizenship to all Dreamers, with or without DACA. The future of our country depends on it.
ABOUT
ABIC Action is the political arm of the American Business Immigration Coalition (ABIC), a bipartisan coalition of over 1,200+ CEOs, business owners, and trade associations across 17 mostly red and purple states. ABIC Action promotes common sense immigration reform that advances economic competitiveness, provides companies with both the high-skilled and low-skilled talent they need, and allows the integration of immigrants into our economy as consumers, workers, entrepreneurs, and citizens.