Higher Ed, Business Leaders, and Dreamers from Texas, Florida, and Nationally Call for Bipartisan Legislative Fix

Higher Ed, Business Leaders, and Dreamers from Texas, Florida, and Nationally Call for Bipartisan Legislative Fix  

For Immediate Release: November 29, 2022
Contact: Diego Sánchez, Diego@presidentsalliance.org 

To Listen to Recording of Today’s Press Call, Click HERE

On a press call held earlier today, higher education and business leaders from Texas and Florida joined with Dreamer community representatives and advocates to call on Congress to deliver a bipartisan legislative solution this year to resolve the uncertain status of DACA recipients and other Dreamers.  

The call took place as part of a Dream Week of Action in Washington, DC, which includes college and university leaders who are part of the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration and Dreamers who have pursued higher education via TheDream.US scholarship program taking part in the call to action for a bipartisan legislative solution.

On today’s call, Gregory Haile, President of Broward College in Florida stated, “We face an exceptionally tight labor market limiting economic expansion, and a key element to the remedy is before us. Dreamers strengthen our classrooms, serve our communities, and stand ready to bridge workforce gaps that face our nation. It is time to remove the fragility that pervades the lives of dreamers, and provide the stability that will lift our nation. 

Indira Islas, a Congressional Fellow, graduate of Delaware State University, and former TheDream.US Scholar said, “having DACA meant that I could work, drive, and go to college without fear of deportation, but there were still many obstacles. In Georgia, undocumented students are required to pay out-of-state tuition…legislation that would give us a pathway to citizenship would eliminate this barrier to education for driven undocumented students…we are not only at risk of losing or not obtaining jobs after graduation, but this country is also at a greater risk of losing the talent and skills it needs now more than ever. Dreamers need to be able to contribute fully to American society.”

Michael Sorrell, President of Paul Quinn College in Texas, said: “DACA has been transformational for students at my institution and across the nation. And it’s time to ensure that DACA recipients’ uncertain futures are resolved through a bipartisan legislative fix

But I also want to make a related point – many younger Dreamer students at Paul Quinn and across the nation do not currently have DACA, largely because of the toll of the persistent legal challenges to the program. In fact, as the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration reminds us, most undocumented students currently enrolled in college or university lack DACA status entirely.”

Glenn Hamer, President & CEO, Texas Association of Business, said “ I believe that providing a way for Dreamers to become U.S. citizens is the right thing to do for them and for America. But I also know, as a business leader, that it’s a workforce and economic necessity to provide a permanent solution for Dreamers and to resolve their current uncertainty. Right now, in Texas, there are tens of thousands of Dreamers across the state who are already working as teachers, nurses, entrepreneurs, and valued employees at major corporations. But with DACA’s future endangered, we run the risk of losing these valued Texas employees – and hundreds of thousands of other DACA workers across the U.S. – unless Congress can finally deliver on a bipartisan legislative fix. Now is the time for our lawmakers to finally deliver a long-awaited bipartisan solution.”

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The nonpartisan, nonprofit Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration brings college and university presidents and chancellors together on the immigration issues that impact higher education, our students, campuses, communities, and nation. We work to advance just, forward-looking immigration policies and practices at the federal, state, and campus levels that are consistent with our heritage as a nation of immigrants and the academic values of equity and openness. The Alliance is composed of over 550 presidents and chancellors of public and private colleges and universities, enrolling over five million students in 43 states, D.C., and Puerto Rico.

TheDream.US is the nation’s largest college and career success program for undocumented immigrant students, having provided more than 8,750 college scholarships to Dreamers attending over 80 partner colleges in 21 states and Washington, DC. We believe everyone, regardless of where they were born, should have equitable access to a college education, a meaningful career, and opportunities to contribute to the communities they call home.