Dreamers are, in every sense but one, as American as those whose relatives arrived on the Mayflower
NBC News
(Editor’s note: Opinion pieces are published for discussion purposes only.)
As secretary of the Department of Homeland Security in 2012, I presided over a formal and vital change to our nation’s immigration enforcement priorities.
Under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, the Obama Administration urged young undocumented immigrants brought to this country as children to voluntarily undergo rigorous background and security checks in exchange for the renewable option to legally live, work, and study in the country they know as home.
In the absence of comprehensive immigration reform, nearly 800,000 Dreamers enrolled in the program, which has benefited not only these high achieving young people, but our nation as a whole.
Now the future of DACA is in jeopardy.
