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US lawmakers call on Biden administration to protect ‘documented dreamers’ from deportation
Despite growing up in the US with legal status, children of long-term visa holders, also known as documented dreamers, lose their dependent status when they turn 21.
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Representative Image. / Unsplash
US Senator Alex Padilla, Chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, and Border Safety, and Representative Deborah Ross on June.13 urged the Joe Biden administration to take action to protect over 250,000 ‘documented dreamers (children of long-term visa holders)’. Padilla and Ross led a bipartisan group of 43 lawmakers to put forth their demand.
Despite growing up in the US with legal status, children of long-term visa holders lose their dependent status when they turn 21. These children of long-term visa holders are at risk of aging out of their dependent status and face self-deportation if they are ineligible for another status.
Often, they are left with no choice but to leave the country if they cannot transition to a new status. This situation arises because their families' adjustment of status applications face extensive backlogs, preventing them from securing permanent resident status.
“These young people grow up in the United States, complete their education in the American school system, and graduate with degrees from American institutions,” the lawmakers said in a letter. “However, due to the long green-card backlog, families with approved immigrant petitions are often stuck waiting decades for permanent resident status.”
“While we continue to pursue legislative solutions to permanently protect these individuals, such as the bipartisan and bicameral America’s Children Act of 2023, we urge you to take administrative action to protect the thousands of children who may be forced to self-deport each year,” they added.
The lawmakers recommended three measures to address the threats faced by documented dreamers. Firstly, they suggested clarifying the use of deferred action on a case-by-case basis for children of long-term visa holders who age out of status. Secondly, they proposed expanding eligibility for Employment Authorization to child dependents of visa holders and those with approved I-140 petitions. Lastly, they recommended creating a process that allows long-term visa holders who age out to seek parole on a case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or to advance a significant public benefit.
Last year, Padilla and Ross held a press conference with documented dreamers to advocate for their bipartisan legislation aimed at protecting these young immigrants once they age out of their protected status. Padilla has fought relentlessly to expand a pathway to citizenship for millions of long-term US residents. His bill, the Renewing Immigration Provisions of the Immigration Act of 1929, would provide millions of immigrants, including children of long-term visa holders, with a pathway to receive a green card.
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