American Lawmakers Fight to Keep ‘Dreamers’ in US

 

United States lawmakers stood with undocumented Asian-American immigrants earlier this week to show support for the young students and workers living in the country.

Their future is uncertain after President Donald Trump’s administration announced plans to cancel the Deferred¹ Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program.

Former President Barack Obama’s administration created the program in 2012. It permits people who entered the country illegally as children to stay in the country to work or study.

More than 800,000 young people are part of the program. They are sometimes called “dreamers.”

California representative Judy Chu is the head of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus². The group of politicians supports Asian-American interests. She led a news conference on Tuesday outside the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C.

She said, “We are here to fight for the 800,000 dreamers, including the 130,000 Asian-American Pacific Islander dreamers who were brought to this country as children through no fault of their own.”

That is the number of Asian immigrants in the United States who are eligible³ to apply for the DACA program, according to Obama’s administration.

The National Council of Asian Pacific Americans says that about 16,000 Asian-American Pacific Islanders are part of the DACA program.

Chirayu Patel formed the DACA network, an organization that provides information and legal resources for DACA recipients⁴. He said at the news conference this week, "I am a dreamer and the U.S. is the only country I have ever known."

U.S. Attorney⁵ General Jeff Sessions announced on September 5 that the government would no longer accept new DACA applications.

Congressional lawmakers now have six months to act if they want to continue to permit current DACA recipients to stay in the U.S.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other political leaders stood with Judy Chu and Chirayu Patel on Tuesday. They did so to urge Congress to pass a piece of legislation⁶ that would provide DACA recipients with a more permanent path to staying in the US.

Representative Pramila Jayapal of Washington state is the first South Asian American woman elected to Congress. She told VOA, “It’s not just one group of people that’s affected⁷ by this, it really is communities across the country – Africans, AAPIs, Latinos."

Researchers at AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islander) Data and the Center for Migration⁸ Studies report that one in seven Asian immigrants in the U.S. is undocumented. And Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders are the fast-growing undocumented population in the United States.

Karthick Ramakrishnan is a public policy professor at the University of California Riverside. He is also the director of AAPI Data. He told VOA, “Most people are blown away when they learn this.”

Of the 130,000 Asian immigrants said to be eligible for the DACA program, relatively⁹ few have actually applied¹⁰.

Jayapal said, “There are a lot of AAPI dreamers who have not stepped up and applied for DACA status…We want to make sure that the AAPI community knows exactly what is still available to them and that they get involved.”

Several organizations work to share information and provide support to the community in a number of different languages. The National Korean American Service and Education Consortium is one of them. It helped Jung Bin¹¹ Cho apply for DACA protection.

Cho moved to the U.S. state of Virginia when he was seven years old. He told his story at the Capitol on Tuesday. He explained the importance of the Asian-American and Hispanic communities in the United States working together. He said the two groups must work together to push Congress to pass legislation that would protect them both.

“I’m putting another voice out there that’s very important,” Cho told VOA, hoping to make it clear that not all DACA recipients are from Latin America.

I’m Pete Musto.

And I’m Caty Weaver¹².

Words in This Story

fault – n. responsibility for a problem, mistake, or bad situation

eligible – adj. able to do or receive something

according to – prep. as stated, reported, or recorded by someone or something

recipient(s) – n. a person who receives something

application(s) – n. a formal and usually written request for something

legislation – n. a law or set of laws made by a government

blow(n) away – p.v. to surprise someone in a very strong and favorable way

relatively – adv. when compared to others

step(ped) up – phrasal verb. to say openly or publicly that you are the person who should get something or who can do something

status – n. the official position of a person or thing according to the law

1 deferred   

adj.延期的，缓召的v.拖延，延缓，推迟( defer的过去式和过去分词 )；服从某人的意愿，遵从

参考例句：

• The department deferred the decision for six months. 这个部门推迟了六个月才作决定。
• a tax-deferred savings plan 延税储蓄计划

2 caucus   

n.秘密会议；干部会议；v.（参加）干部开会议

参考例句：

• This multi-staged caucus takes several months.这个多级会议常常历时好几个月。
• It kept the Democratic caucus from fragmenting.它也使得民主党的核心小组避免了土崩瓦解的危险。

3 eligible   

adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的

参考例句：

• He is an eligible young man.他是一个合格的年轻人。
• Helen married an eligible bachelor.海伦嫁给了一个中意的单身汉。

4 recipients   

adj.接受的；受领的；容纳的；愿意接受的n.收件人；接受者；受领者；接受器

参考例句：

• The recipients of the prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者的姓名登在报上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The recipients of prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者名单登在报上。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

5 attorney   

n.（业务或法律事务上的）代理人，辩护律师

参考例句：

• He acted as attorney for me.他充当我的律师。
• The attorney for the union accused the Mayor of playing politics.工会的律师谴责市长在这次罢工中耍阴谋。

6 legislation   

n.立法，法律的制定；法规，法律

参考例句：

• They began to draft legislation.他们开始起草法规。
• The liberals band together against the new legislation.自由党员联合一致反对新的立法。

7 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

8 migration   

n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙

参考例句：

• Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
• He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。

9 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

10 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

11 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

12 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。