Sens.
Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) introduced a bill
yesterday to provide temporary relief from deportation and employment
authorization for recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
(DACA) status and DACA-eligible individuals.
The DACA program,
established in 2012 under President Obama via executive action, permits
young undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children
and meet certain other criteria to stay for two years at a time without
fear of deportation and to obtain work permits.
More than 750,000 young people have received DACA status since the program’s creation, many of whom are college students. In a letter
(303 KB PDF) yesterday to Graham and Durbin, ACE and 20 other higher education
associations expressed support for their legislation, known as the Bar Removal of Individuals Who Dream and Grow Our Economy (BRIDGE) Act (S. 128).
“The bill would extend fundamental fairness to these students,
permitting them to continue studying or working and establish a firm
statutory basis for the program while Congress debates legislation
addressing a permanent solution,” the groups wrote.
The temporary protected status granted under the BRIDGE Act would expire after three years.
Other supporters of the bill include Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK),
Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Charles Schumer (D-NY) and
Kamala Harris (D-CA). Reps. Mike Coffman (R-CO) and Luis Gutierrez
(D-IL) are introducing companion legislation in the House.
The fate of both DACA and the BRIDGE Act is unclear at this point.
During his confirmation hearing Tuesday, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), who
has been nominated to be attorney general, said repealing DACA would
“certainly be constitutional.” Sessions previously called DACA policy a
“colossal executive overreach,” as Politico’s Morning Education reported this week.
Sessions said Tuesday that as attorney general, he would “have no
objection to have a decision to ban that order because it is very
questionable, in my opinion, constitutionally," though he stopped short
of saying he would encourage the president-elect to do so. (For more on
DACA and this week’s confirmation hearings, see “Dreamers Face Uncertain Future After Confirmation Hearings” in TIME.)
Amid uncertainty about the fate of DACA and the nation’s immigration policy under the Trump administration, ACE released an issue brief
(157 KB PDF) in December that addresses matters such as the data DACA applicants
submitted in their applications; sanctuary campuses; institutional
pledges of non-cooperation; and complying with requests by federal
officials for records identifying undocumented students or other
community members.