CARMEL, Ind. — You probably remember the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals act, but you probably remember it as DACA or the Dreamers Act. One Indiana mayor wants that act protected before Republicans takeover the House of Representatives.
“DACA is a bill that would allow children who were brought here, as minors, and raised in the United States, to become citizens,” says Mayor Jim Brainard of Carmel, Indiana.
Mayor Brainard is one of 71 mayors from all across the United States, calling on Congress to protect the act and allow it to continue. In a letter from November, the mayors warned that leaving DACA vulnerable could leave hundreds of thousands of “Dreamers” in the same spot.
“Sometimes their parents may have been illegal immigrants, but we shouldn’t take the sins of the parents and put them on these children,” Brainard explains.
DACA was introduced during the Obama administration. It allows eligible immigrant children to be granted a work permit, which they would need to renew every two years. In January of 2021, shortly after taking office, President Joe Biden, who served as former President Barack Obama’s vice-president when DACA was first introduced, promised to “fortify” and “preserve” DACA.
Brainard says the United States was founded on the idea that someone could escape a country ran by a dictator, swallowed by economic hardship. He says that is the tradition and fabric of the country, and that’s the idea behind this bill.
“That’s our history, that’s our tradition,” Brainard continues, “we’re built on the idea that the United States is made up of people from all different cultures, faiths, backgrounds and races.”
Brainard says these immigrants also fill empty jobs, further strengthening America’s workforce.
