Asian Americans Advancing Justice Opposes Funding Bill that Leaves Undocumented Youth Behind

Asian Americans Advancing Justice Opposes Funding Bill that Leaves Undocumented Youth Behind
New Bipartisan Spending Bill Fails to Include Legislation on DACA

San Francisco, C.A. — February 8, 2018 — Tonight, Congress is expected to vote on a budget to avoid another government shutdown. Once again, Congress is debating over a spending bill but has yet to bring any legislative solutions to a vote for DACA recipients.

Asian Americans Advancing Justice, an affiliation of five civil rights organizations, issues the following statement on the latest debate in Congress:

“It is disgraceful that Congress has not included legislation for DACA recipients in this latest round of negotiations. Asian Americans Advancing Justice urges Congress not to leave DACA recipients behind.

There are more than 130,000 Asian undocumented youth, and it is unacceptable to continue to kick the can down the road and leave undocumented youth with uncertainty when the deadline for their protections to expire is only three weeks away. The impact of this decision will lead to more deportations and to more people losing their jobs and healthcare. Our undocumented youth need a permanent solution now. That solution is a clean DREAM Act.

Although we acknowledge that there are many important items prioritized by this bill such as funding for community health centers, disaster relief, and the census, Congress shouldn’t pass this bill while turning its back on our undocumented youth.

Americans overwhelmingly support creating a path to citizenship for undocumented youth. When is this Congress going to listen to the will of the people and stop treating the lives of our undocumented youth like a political football?

We urge Members of Congress to oppose the spending bill unless and until a clean DREAM Act is attached to it. More than one million people are counting on Congress to do the right thing now.”

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Asian Americans Advancing Justice is a national affiliation of five leading organizations advocating for the civil and human rights of Asian Americans and other underserved communities to promote a fair and equitable society for all. The affiliation’s members are: Advancing Justice | AAJC (Washington, DC), Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus (San Francisco), Advancing Justice – Los Angeles, Advancing Justice – Atlanta, and Advancing Justice – Chicago.