Dreamers urge protections in Senate hearing on immigrant youth

As immigration policies take center stage in the nation’s political debate and the fate of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program remains uncertain, senators are holding a hearing Wednesday on the "urgent need to protect immigrant youth," according to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The occasion has prompted 1,636 scholars and alumni of TheDream.US, an organization helping DACA recipients and other undocumented immigrant youths known as Dreamers go to college, to sign a letter urging Congress to "provide us with the opportunity to pursue a path to U.S. citizenship naturalization."

"Such action will provide certainty to our families and communities and strengthen our nation’s economy by ensuring the future of a vital, vibrant workforce," the letter, first shared with NBC News, reads.

Other organizations such as evangelical and educational groups have also shared letters of support ahead of the hearing.

Gaby Pacheco, an education leader and president of TheDream.US, is one of five witnesses who spoke at the hearing. She advocated for legislation that would give a pathway to legalization to young immigrant adults who've spent most of their lives in the U.S., something that polls have shown has broad support.

"The reality is that more than ever, without bipartisanship, we're not going to be able to get anything done," Pacheco told NBC News in a phone interview ahead of her testimony.

But achieving the much-needed bipartisanship may be more challenging now than ever before, said Pacheco, a former DACA recipient who has advocated for Dreamers her entire life.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., chairman of the Judiciary Committee, opened the hearing focusing on the contributions of Dreamers and DACA recipients. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the ranking member, responded by saying that fixing DACA “is not my concern right now” because his priority is solving the “complete, utter disaster” riddling the border and U.S. immigration policies.

Graham added that legalizing Dreamers would send others the message “to keep coming” and worsen the immigration crisis.

Durbin responded that it is unfair to hold “these young people accountable for your concerns” and said DACA recipients go through extensive background checks and become exceptional workers.

The senators’ differing stances are a departure from their bipartisan efforts just a year ago, when they both introduced the Dream Act of 2023, which would have allowed Dreamers to earn lawful permanent residence.

Immigration has increasingly become a flashpoint for politicians on both sides of the aisle ahead of the November presidential election, with Republicans overwhelmingly pointing to selected instances of undocumented noncitizens’ being charged with murder and other serious crimes to push for hard-line immigration policies, while Democrats decry such efforts and deem them “cheap” political tactics.

According to the National Institute of Justice at the Justice Department, “Recent research suggests that those who immigrate (legally or illegally) are not more likely, and may even be less likely to commit crime in the US.”

“I think it’s very sad and tragic, what happens in the country when a very small, tiny population that does bad things is now put front stage to scare everyday Americans about who immigrants are,” said Pacheco, who has been in the U.S. since she was 8, after emigrating from Ecuador with her family.

Such dynamics are reflected in the pool of witnesses testifying before the Senate, which includes Tammy Nobles, the mother of slain 20-year-old Kayla Hamilton who sued the federal government in January alleging it allowed a gang-affiliated undocumented teen charged with Hamilton's killing into the country.

After recounting the heartbreaking events that led to her daughter’s death, Nobles said, “Not all immigrants are seeking the American dream. Some are criminals that are seeking to harm American lives.”

Over a decade of DACA — and uncertainty about its future

More than 800,000 young adults who were brought to the U.S. as children and lack legal immigration status have been able to work and study without fear of deportation since DACA was first implemented in 2012 as an executive action by then-President Barack Obama. An overwhelming majority of DACA recipients were born in Mexico and other Latin American countries.

Then-President Donald Trump tried to shut down the program, though he was stopped by the courts. A series of lawsuits challenging DACA spearheaded by Republican-led states continue making their way through the courts.

An estimated 400,000 young people who would have been eligible to apply for DACA have been shut out of the program since 2021, when a federal judge decided to halt it for new registrants amid the ongoing legal challenges.

In addition to Nobles and Pacheco, the other witnesses include Mitchell Soto-Rodriguez, a police officer in Illinois who has DACA, and two immigration policy experts.

In her testimony, Soto-Rodriguez said she became a police officer after being inspired by the officer “who showed compassion” when responding to a car accident she and her mother were in when Soto-Rodriguez was an undocumented teen.

After obtaining DACA, Soto-Rodriguez learned that she still wasn’t eligible to apply to be an officer. But when the police chief in her town learned of her story, it inspired him to advocate for changes in the laws to allow DACA recipients to become police officers, she said.

Irving Hernandez, 20, one of the hundreds of TheDream.US scholars and alumni who signed the organization's letter to Congress, is among those who have been shut out of DACA in recent years.

A junior at Metropolitan State University of Denver, Hernandez is studying health psychology and aspires to have a career helping people dealing with anxiety, depression, trauma and other mental health challenges.

"I want to be such a huge catalyst for change," he said.

Hernandez said he wants lawmakers to "give Dreamers the opportunity to succeed, because we really don't get that opportunities."

Supporters of DACA say it’s one of the most successful policies for immigrant integration.

Since DACA started in 2012, recipients have contributed $108 billion in wages to the economy, as well as $33 billion in combined taxes, according to FWD.us, a bipartisan group supporting immigration reform. Most DACA recipients are young adults who have lived in the U.S. for more than 16 years.

Pacheco, a longtime advocate trying to bridge the political divide on Dreamer legislation, recalled testifying at a congressional hearing over a decade ago, shortly after she became a DACA recipient. Now sitting in front of senators as someone who was able to become a naturalized U.S. citizen after she was sponsored by her husband, Pacheco said she hopes to convey her life story to them, show the success of the DACA program and put a spotlight on the immigrant youth who have been shut out of the program.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com