The call to allow Dreamers to once again travel more freely continues to grow. Three Democratic presidential candidates are among the three dozen members of Congress adding to the chorus of legislators asking the Trump administration to restore a policy that previously allowed Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals to travel internationally under special circumstances.
Because the administration no longer allows them to apply for “advance parole,” DACA recipients have been unable to visit dying loved ones outside the U.S. Mayra Garibo applied for advance parole right before the Trump administration’s 2017 rescission of DACA in order to visit her dad, but was denied. He died without being able to see his daughter one final time to say goodbye.
“In another unfortunate example of the harm of USCIS’ policy, in 2018, DACA recipient Angel Martinez—who was diagnosed with terminal acute lymphoblastic leukemia—faced an impossible dilemma of choosing between saying goodbye to his family in Mexico or receiving appropriate palliative medical care to ease his pain in the U.S.,” the legislators, including Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Sen. Kamala Harris of California, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, write in their letter.
Young immigrants who grew up here also risk losing out on educational opportunities—or taking those opportunities and then risk never being able to return. “As one extraordinary example of the harm of USCIS’ policy, Harvard student Jin Park—the first DACA recipient to be awarded the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship—is being forced to contemplate leaving the U.S. to pursue an advanced degree at the University of Oxford in the U.K. with knowledge he likely cannot return upon competition of his studies.”
“Denying DACA recipients an opportunity to travel internationally for study and work is detrimental not only to their personal and professional wellbeing,” the signatories continue, “but also undermines the strength of the American economy to which they are contributing their knowledge and skills.”