IMPACT Applauds the Introduction of the America’s CHILDREN Act

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 3, 2021

PHILADELPHIA — IMPACT is proud to support the America’s CHILDREN Act, introduced today by Representatives Deborah Ross (NC-02) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (IL-08), which would provide a pathway to permanent residency for over 200,000 Documented Dreamers, a vast majority of whom are of Indian origin.

“The America’s CHILDREN Act gives hope to 200,000 Documented Dreamers who are American in every sense of the word but for an immigration policy that is unfair, unjust, and unwise,” says Neil Makhija, Executive Director at IMPACT. “These are America’s children, and we must give them the path to citizenship that they deserve and that also will serve the country.”

We thank Reps. Ross, Krishnamoorthi, Kim, and Miller-Meeks for leading the way on this issue and urge Congress to take up and pass this Act.

“My Wake County community is one of many across the country that has flourished because of immigrant workers, who spend years growing our economy and raising their children as Americans,” said Congresswoman Ross. “It is unconscionable that when these children, known as Documented Dreamers, reach the age of 21, they can be forced to self-deport to countries they might not even remember, splitting their families apart.

Documented Dreamers immigrated to the U.S. at the average age of 5, as child dependents of long-term visa holders. Yet, as Congress debates the pathway to citizenship for 2 million Dreamers, over 200,000 people — becoming known as Documented Dreamers — are facing self-deportation at the age of 21 because of a long green card backlog and unfair loophole that leaves them behind simply because their parents maintain legal status in the U.S. IMPACT is proud to stand with documented dreamers as they fight to stay in the country they call home. 

“For too long, young immigrants like us, who have been raised and educated here as Americans, have been forced to leave the country we call home,” says Dip Patel, documented dreamer and founder of Improve the Dream. “Over 200,000 Documented Dreamers who had felt hopeless now have hope for being recognized as something we have long felt: Americans. We are America’s Children and this bill will recognize us as such.”

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IMPACT is the nation’s leading South Asian advocacy organization. Visit our website at www.iaimpact.org to learn more.