ACT NOW: Dream On! (URGENT)

I ask that you TODAY demand that Congress:

1. Protect some 800,000 individuals who are working and attending school under DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), slated for termination in March, 2018.
2. Honor the vast majority of voters (80%) who favor a compassionate solution for Dreamers.
3. Do so without sacrificing the safety or cohesion of the familiesthat support these young people.
4. Attach a clean Dream Act to must-pass spending bills THIS WEEK, before recess and before thousands more lose their opportunities and hope.

After adjournment, and in the customary legislative process, there is little prospect of any answer to the anxieties and uncertainties these individuals and their families face.  To wait until March and see no action is unconscionable.

If you have no time, please stop reading now and CALL or EMAIL.  Missouri delegation contacts are provided below.  Readers outside Missouri need just a browser to get the same contact information for their representatives.

WHY?

Here is where it gets personal.  I will spare you the well-reasoned rationale, the legal and social history, and the finer points of law.  Those can be found in earlier blogposts and on national websites.  Instead, let me tell you where my heart is this morning.

I know students who have held food sales and online fundraisers to support the fight for a Dream Act (I spent $40.00 on a few pieces of carrot cake at St. Cecelia’s just last week).  I know families of five working seven jobs to survive.  We had students who finished finals on Friday, raised travel money on Saturday, and left Sunday to drive straight through to Washington, DC.  Last night, our students were singing outside the DC detention center that holds seven individuals (including undocumented students) who are on the fifth day of a hunger strike after being arrested outside the office of Senator Chuck Schumer.

My own aunt and uncle have cleared space in their home (inside the Beltway) to host four young people from MO Dreamers, a St. Louis organization.  My colleagues on staff, my daughter, and several of our donors have made personal contributions for gasoline and food and Metro fares for those headed to Washington to make sure lawmakers see and hear them.

Here is a text message I received this morning from one of the strongest 21-year olds I have ever met:

“I am humbled by the bravery and courage of the seven dreamers and one ally standing up for 800,000 undocumented people. My family and I travelled 14 hours to be here today alongside them.  Sin DACA- Sin miedo!”

ACT NOW

– Faith Sandler