In our divided and hyper-partisan country there are few things most everyone can agree on: there really doesn’t need to be a re-boot of “American Idol”; the Cleveland Browns remain a decade away from greatness, and our immigration system is not much of a system after all.
One small aspect of our immigration culture war should be able to garner broad support. Both those who want to build walls and those who want to declare every square inch a sanctuary zone should be able to support continuing the protection for Dreamers. Dreamers is the short-hand term for young people who were brought into the U.S. as minors without documentation, who have no criminal records, and who are either in school, working or in the military. The acronym comes from the DREAM Act, an aconym for Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors.
Dreamers have been protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (“DACA”), which affords this discrete category of undocumented persons the ability to obtain lawful permanent residence status and prevents them from being deported to countries with which they may have no actual connection. That protection is currently under threat in Washington, D.C.
It is important to understand that this protection is not gifted on Dreamers, they have to earn it. Dreamers have to demonstrate proficiency in the English language as well as having knowledge of U.S. history. They also must pass law enforcement background checks and be deemed by officials to pose no threat to our country. Dreamers must be either enrolled in school, have a record of working for at least three years or be serving in the military. In short, they have to be productive members of society.
Equally important to what this protection does for these young people is what it does for our nation.
From a pure economic standpoint, 90 percent or roughly 700,000 Dreamers are employed; 6 percent have launched their own businesses (which employ native born citizens); 55 percent have purchased a vehicle and 12 percent have purchased their first home. Pulling the rug out from this economically productive group harms our economy as a whole. In Alaska, the state’s 120 Dreamers pay nearly $1 million in state and local taxes and contribute about $8.5 million to our state domestic product.
Perhaps even more import, however, is what continuing to protect the Dreamers says about us as a nation. It demonstrates we are wise enough to understand that children who are brought into our country are not at fault for their undocumented status. It affirms our belief in individual values as each Dreamer only qualifies based on their own individual accomplishments and record.
Finally, it proves the timeless values embedded in our rich heritage of productive immigration still exist today and can be embodied in an immigration system recognizing and meeting the unique economic and safety challenges we face on the front edge of the 21st century.
If you believe a wall is the answer, fine — advocate for your wall, but also make it clear that you believe those who were brought here as children and have done their best to be productive Americans should be protected and afforded the opportunity to succeed. If you support a refugee ban, fine — advocate for your ban, but also acknowledge that the hardworking young people brought here as children are not a threat to our way of life and should be allowed to continue their quintessentially American journey.
If you think that only skilled workers should be admitted, fine — support restrictions on immigration but at that same time protect those who were brought here as children and who have been building their skills and their experiences in our schools and communities. Put simply, you can be as tough and restrictive as you want on immigration and at the same time acknowledge that American justice demands protection for the Dreamers.
Please contact U.S. Sens. Dan Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Congressman Don Young and the President and let them know that you support continuing the protections afforded to the Dreamers. And let us all hope that there never comes a day when people the world over stop dreaming about coming to America.
• Bill Evans is an Anchorage based labor and employment law attorney with 25 years experience. He is a former member of the Anchorage Assembly and former two-time chair of the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce.
