Campaign Action
As the future of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is at stake due to the Trump administration, Sen. Kamala Harris met with a group of undocumented immigrant youth this week, pledging to keep fighting for the program and urging the immigrant youth to keep sharing their stories.
“I think it’s so critically important that people see you guys, and that they hear your voices,” Sen. Harris said:
Melody, who holds a master’s degree from USC, was an orphan when she came to America at age nine.
Eric, a UC Irvine student, was brought from South Korea when he was eight years old.
Doris, who was five years old when she arrived to the United States, plans to attend UC Berkeley.
Harris said opposition to Dreamers would disappear if everyone had a chance to meet them, including former Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, whom she questioned during his confirmation hearing in April
“During the course of the conversation, it occurred to me ask, which I did, ‘Sir, have you ever met a Dreamer?’ And his response was ‘no,’” said Sen. Harris. “If the vast majority of people who are expressing opinions about this issue had the opportunity to meet our Dreamers, they would understand it’s just the right thing to do.”
California is home to an estimated 1 in 4 of the nation’s total DACA population, according to CBS Los Angeles. “We must uphold the promise we made to Dreamers,” Sen. Harris tweeted.
You can watch footage of the meeting below.