DACA / “DREAMERS”
*from Feb 23, 2017 town hall event*
According to the Pew Research Center, there were 27,000 DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) applications approved in Arizona. There may be several thousand more young people eligible.
The Migration Policy Institute estimates that there are 97,000 people in Arizona who would have qualified for DAPA (Deferred Action for Parents of Americans). Moreover, there may be 212,000 U.S. citizens (mostly children) living in the same households with them. That’s over 300,000 Arizonans who are deeply affected by Congress’s unwillingness to address this issue.
Rep. McSally has tried to split the difference here. She thinks creating the program was executive overreach. When a federal judge blocked the DAPA program, and an expansion of the DACA program, she issued a statement of support.
But she doesn’t want to punish the young people who came forward to take part in DACA.
In January of 2015, there was an amendment to a Department of Homeland Security bill which would block funding for the DACA program. Rep. McSally was one of 26 Republican House members who voted against the amendment. “It is neither practical nor fair to deport young migrants who freely came forward, giving information such as fingerprints and home addresses to our government, under the auspices that they would be given deferred status. Those who came here through no fault of their own, have passed background checks, earned high school degrees, and are pursuing the American dream should not be punished.”
When the amendment passed, she voted for the bill with the amendment attached.
In May of 2015, Arizona Democrat Ruben Gallego proposed an amendment to a Defense Authorization bill to encourage the military to allow Dreamers to enlist. The amendment failed, but Rep. McSally was one of only 20 Republicans to vote for it.