Letter to Hon. Tim Ryan, Chairman Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch, Hon. Mike Quigley, Chairman Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government, Herrera Beutler, Ranking Member Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch, and Hon. Steven Womack, Ranking Member Subcommittee on Financial Services - Rep. Aguilar Leads Letter To Allow DACA Recipients To Hold Federal Employment

Statement

Dear Chairman Ryan, Chairman Quigley, Ranking Member Herrera Beutler and Ranking Member Womack:
As you consider funding for Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23), we strongly urge you to expand federal employment requirements to include recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
As you know, the DACA program was established in 2012 to protect eligible immigrants, who came to the United States when they were children, from deportation. The program also provides recipients with work authorization, allowing them to be legally employed in the U.S. Today, more than 600,000 DACA recipients live and work in our country, making immeasurable contributions to our communities, to employers large and small, and to our nation as a whole, including paying more than $6.2 billion in federal taxes each year.
DACA recipients have been raised and educated in this country. On average, DACA recipients arrived in the U.S. at the age of 7, meaning the United States is the only home that they have ever known, and the country they love. Today, more than 1.5 million people live with a family member who is a DACA recipient.
DACA recipients are American in every way and influence all sectors of our society. These young men and women serve in uniform, teach in schools, start businesses on Main Streets across the country, and contribute to the fabric of our communities in every conceivable way. DACA recipients occupy roles and are pursuing degrees in critical industries that influence government policy and operations, including tech, finance, health care, education, environment, and law. And just as DACA recipients are making a positive difference in the private sector, they
are positioned to make significant contributions to the federal workforce. Yet, inexplicably, they are barred from federal employment.
DACA recipients have been serving as federal interns and fellows through third party entities, contributing diverse experience and expertise to the work of the federal government, but have no avenue for permanent federal employment. Historically, appropriations legislation has routinely prohibited the federal government from hiring non-citizens. Congress, and the federal government more broadly, could benefit from the contributions of DACA recipients, if only we removed the barriers preventing them for joining our federal workforce. We, therefore, advocate strongly for their inclusion in the federal workforce, and we request the following language be included in FY23 funding legislation. The legislative branch appropriations language passed the House in FY 22.
Legislative Branch Appropriations
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, an entity may use amounts appropriated or otherwise made available under this Act to pay the compensation of an officer or employee without regard to the officer's or employee's immigration status if the officer or employee has been issued an employment authorization document under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program of the Secretary of Homeland Security, established pursuant to the memorandum from the Secretary of Homeland Security entitled ""Exercising Prosecutorial Discretion with Respect to Individuals Who Came to the United States as Children,'' dated June 15, 2012.
Financial Services and General Government Appropriations
or (5) is a person who is authorized to be employed in the United States pursuant to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program established under the memorandum of the Secretary of Homeland Security dated June 15, 2012.
Thank you for your consideration of these requests as you work on upcoming FY23 appropriations legislation.