Gov. Polis urges Congress to pass protections for DACA recipients

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis wrote to U.S. Congressional leaders last week urging them to pass permanent protection for Dreamers, including Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients. 

In the letter penned to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Polis asked for fair and humane immigration reform, starting immediately with legal protection for DACA recipients. 

“The recent Fifth Circuit decision is yet another clear indicator that the future of hundreds of thousands of DACA-eligible individuals who call the U.S. home is at great risk,” Polis wrote in the letter. “While the litigation is not yet over, a potential Supreme Court decision overruling DACA could strip DACA recipients of their work permits, and threaten the livelihood of over 1.3 million DACA-eligible individuals, their families and their communities, and place them on a path to deportation.”

Polis cited U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services data showing that more than 830,000 people have been protected under DACA, including 14,520 recipients in Colorado as of March 2020. He said litigation stopping additional applications from being processed is harmful to Colorado’s economy as it’s in need of workers amid a labor shortage across the state.

The letter also credits DACA recipients for their work throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Polis noted that more than three-quarters of recipients in the workforce were deemed essential workers and continued their jobs throughout the pandemic.

“Enacting permanent protection for Dreamers is supported by the majority of American voters and we can no longer wait for Congress to implement the will of the people,” Polis wrote.