U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia, a Houston Democrat, said she plans to re-introduce a bill that would provide a pathway to citizenship for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients.
Garcia spoke with other members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) in Washington D.C. early Thursday afternoon. The CHC is an organization of Democratic leaders dedicated to voicing and advancing issues affecting Hispanics in the United States, Puerto Rico and Northern Mariana Islands through the legislative process. At the news conference, members from across the nation addressed current immigration policy and challenges at the border.
“The president says he wants to do something about Dreamers. Well, we’re gonna hold him to it,” Garcia said. “Are we going to take him at his word? Is he serious? Because if he is, we want him and ask him to work with us.”
President Donald Trump said in December that he believes DACA recipients should be allowed to stay in the country. Since being inaugurated in January for a second stint in the White House, Trump has signed several executive orders aimed at cracking down on immigration to the U.S., including an attempt to end birthright citizenship for children born to people who are in the U.S. without legal status and stripping schools and churches of immigration enforcement protections.
RELATED: Thousands march through West Houston to protest immigration policy changes
On Jan. 26, U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement began targeted operations across Texas, arresting dozens of people.
Amidst those developments, Garcia said she will re-introduce the American Dream and Promise Act. The act was originally introduced in 2021 and refiled in 2023, and the bill failed to pass both times.
The proposed law would provide conditional permanent resident status for 10 years to a qualifying individual who entered the United States as a minor. The bill would help people who fit this criteria who are deportable or inadmissible, have deferred enforced departure or temporary protected status, or those who are the child of “certain classes of non immigrants.”
“[Immigration reform] is a problem the Republicans like to keep at the forefront,” Garcia said. “They don’t want a solution because it helps them with their politics. We want to talk about solutions. We are not about grandstanding.”
Conservative, Hispanic supporters of Trump have also previously shown interest in legal avenues for residency in the United States. Earlier this year, a federal court upheld a district judge’s ruling that parts of the Biden Administration’s DACA rule is unlawful. But a three-judge panel allowed the rule to go into effect nationwide except for in Texas. Current DACA recipients are still allowed to renew DACA while the case is on appeal.
“The ruling restores DACA in 49 states, providing temporary relief for thousands of young people who study, work, and contribute to our nation,” Nina Perales, the vice president of litigation for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), said in a statement earlier this year. “And all current DACA recipients remain protected, and able to renew their DACA grants, until this case concludes its journey through the courts.”
According to the Migration Policy Institute, Houston is home to around 31,000 DACA recipients. This number has been declining as ongoing litigation has prevented people from applying to the program.
