In response to a recent Texas district ruling that Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy is unlawful, a group of evangelical leaders sent a letter to members of Congress reiterating their past calls for urgent congressional action that would allow Dreamers to pursue permanent legal status “before further court decisions precipitate an even greater crisis.”
The letter, signed by members of the Evangelical Immigration Table, explains that the eventual termination of DACA presents “a foreseeable crisis on the near horizon,” when an estimated 600,000 current DACA beneficiaries could lose their work authorization, with ripple effects for their families, churches and the economy.
Four out of five U.S. evangelicals desire bipartisan collaboration on immigration reforms. These reforms would encompass not only a pathway to citizenship for immigrants brought to the U.S. as children (Dreamers) but also improvements to border security and reforms to ensure a legal and reliable agricultural workforce.
Myal Greene, president and CEO of World Relief, explains, “Americans, including evangelical Christians, are exhausted by our Congress’s decades-long failure to pass even the most commonsense, broadly popular immigration proposals, such as providing Dreamers with a path to citizenship. I’m praying that this troubling judicial decision will finally spur members of Congress to work together to pass the Dream Act or other legislation that would provide Dreamers the legal affirmation of what we already know to be true: that this is their home and they belong here.”