Rep. Tulsi Gabbard Votes to Protect DREAMers

Statement

Today, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (HI-02) voted to pass H.R. 6, the American Dream and Promise Act which would provide a pathway to citizenship for DREAMers and individuals with temporary protected status (TPS) or deferred enforcement departure (DED). Rep. Tulsi Gabbard is an original cosponsor of the bill.

H.R. 6 passed the House by a vote of 237-187 and now heads to the Senate for consideration.

"More than 2.5 million DREAMers in Hawai"i and across the country have faced uncertainty and fear of deportation for far too long. Their lives and futures hang in the balance as they dread the possibility that at any moment they could be deported from the only home many have ever known, and sent to a foreign land. This legislation finally provides a pathway to certainty and citizenship that will allow them to come out from the shadows and pursue their goals and dreams," said Rep. Tulsi Gabbard.

Background: Rep. Tulsi Gabbard has long called on Congress to pass legislation like the DREAM Act, highlighting the detrimental impact that ending the Deferred Action to Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program would have, and has spoken out on behalf of Hawai"i's DREAMers. She cosponsored measures to protect families and children, including the DREAMer Information Protection Act (H.R. 532), the BRIDGE Act (H.R. 496), and the Keep Families Together Act (H.R. 6135). She has also hosted events in the district as well as from Washington, DC like an immigration-focused telephone town hall to update Hawai"i constituents on the status of DACA, and answer questions about education rights for DREAMers, fees for naturalization, qualifications to receive DACA, backlogs on citizenship applications, rules regarding re-entry for foreign-born relatives of U.S. military personnel, and more. Most recently, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard sent a letter to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security urging the subcommittee to limit the Department of Homeland Security's ability to separate parents from their children.

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