New York, NY, February 16, 2018…In response to the U.S. Senate’s failure to pass a narrow bipartisan compromise to protect Dreamers this week, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) expressed deep disappointment in our nation’s failure to protect immigrant youth at risk of deportation.
Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL CEO released the following statement:
President Trump unnecessarily created this crisis when he unlawfully rescinded DACA and upended the lives of hundreds of thousands of young immigrants and their families. Bipartisan solutions that would have protected Dreamers were rejected yesterday because of flagrant attempts by President Trump and nativist Senators to continue using Dreamers as hostages to advance mean-spirited anti-immigrant initiatives.
The majority of Americans support a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers. But, the administration and its supporters in Congress continue to use this manufactured crisis - and the anguish of nearly a million young people - to try to force through racist and extreme initiatives that would rip families apart and undermine the very essence of our nation’s core values.
It is shameful for a majority in Congress to leave the lives of Dreamers hanging in the balance one day longer. We demand that our elected leaders on both sides of the aisle find the courage to do the right thing - pass a clean bipartisan Dream Act solution now and refuse to permit bigotry and racism to control our immigration policy and further tarnish our history as a nation of immigrants.