The immigration policy debate can be divisive and confusing. Yet for more than 20 years, a point of consensus among the strong majority of Americans has been that Dreamers should have a way to become U.S. citizens and fully contribute to the nation they’ve grown up in.
Earlier this month, the bipartisan reintroduction of The Dream Act in the U.S. Senate became another reminder of the solution Americans overwhelmingly support. It’s a chance to unleash the potential of young people who grew up in this nation but weren’t fortunate enough to be born here. And yet, as the bill is reintroduced once again, Dreamers and the communities that love them are being asked to trust a system that has repeatedly failed them and at a moment when their futures in this nation are under renewed threat.
I say this as someone who was a Dreamer, and now as the president and CEO of TheDream.US, the nation’s leading organization supporting Dreamers at the intersection of higher education, workforce development, immigration and advocacy. We have supported more than 12,000 scholars, including dozens who have faced detention or deportation. Three of those cases are active right now.
These are young people who grew up here, studied here, worked here and built families here. Dreamers are not an abstraction. They are America.
And yet, America keeps them on the brink.
In December 2024, on Meet the Press, Donald Trump described Dreamers with striking clarity. He acknowledged their contributions, their businesses, their work ethic and noted that he would want them to be able to stay. In doing so, he recognized Dreamers in a way at direct odds with how his administration is treating them and more accurately than many elected officials do. In response, on Meet the Press NOW, I said: “I stand ready to work with you.”
I meant it then, and I mean it now. I am ready to work with Donald Trump, Republicans and Democrats alike to pass a standalone, bipartisan Dream Act.
If politicians act because it is morally right, good. If they act because Dreamers strengthen America’s economy, great. If they act because it boosts approval ratings, helps in the midterms, or reconnects them with Latino voters, that’s fine too. What matters is that they act; now!
Every day without action is another day a Dreamer risks losing a home, a job as a teacher or nurse, a family and a future in the nation they call home. After 20 years of debate, inaction is no longer neutral. It is harmful and negligible at a moment when Dreamers’ futures are imperiled.
We already know what happens when young people are brought out of the shadows. The DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program proved it. Young people thrive. They work. They innovate. They give back.
But DACA covers only a fraction of Dreamers. It’s temporary. It’s limited and younger Dreamers cannot apply. Court challenges have made the program fragile. Children who came here before kindergarten are now adults with their own children living in legal limbo.
The Dream Act is the only real solution. And while Congress debates, the Department of Homeland Security must act immediately by placing a moratorium on the detention and deportation of Dreamers. No Dreamer should be deported while lawmakers negotiate their future.
Politicians move when the public moves them. And the public needs to see Dreamers not as political symbols but as neighbors, classmates, teachers, coworkers and family.
So I am asking Americans to push: Push President Trump and push Congress. Tell them this is the moment for the Dream Act. Tell them a moratorium on targeting Dreamers must happen now. Tell them enough is enough. That securing Dreamers’ futures helps secure America’s future.
We don’t need more speeches or promises. We need courage—now. Instead of standing by idly as we see more Dreamers targeted, detained and deported or kicking the can down the road and saying we’ll address their status “some other time,” we need to act with urgency for Dreamers and the nation.
We need the long overdue passage of the Dream Act—it’s time to protect the people this country helped raise and who are ready to fully contribute to America.
Gaby Pacheco is president and CEO of TheDream.US.
The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.
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