Mitch Perry
Mayors Buddy Dyer and Andrew Gillum have signed on to a letter to the Florida congressional delegation demanding it includes a plan to address the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in any proposal to keep the government running.
Congress must pass a spending bill by midnight Friday or else parts of the government will shut down.
The two mayors are among 70 different public officials and organizations who signed on to the letter.
According to The Hill, almost every Democrat is planning to oppose a Republican plan for a short-term spending patch, known as a continuing resolution (CR), to protest the absence of a DACA fix.
President Donald Trump announced last fall that he was would be dismantling the Obama-era immigration program, but gave Congress until March 5 to come up with a legislative fix. Most Democrats have seized on having the Republican-led Congress deal with the issue this week, but GOP leadership has resisted that call, saying there is still plenty of time to deal with the issue. DACA has shielded more than 700,000 undocumented young people from deportation.
“The undersigned organizations and individuals are writing to ask that you support a vote on the DREAM Act in the January spending bill,” reads a portion of the letter. “We are deeply troubled by the uncertain future of nearly 800,000 young immigrant DACA recipients, also known as Dreamers, who are already losing their legal status and need a legislative fix now. In Florida, nearly 32,800 individuals stand to lose their DACA status and related protections if Congress doesn’t act.”
Other co-signers include Orlando state Sen. Randolph Tracy and state Reps. Robert Ascencio of Miami, Joseph Geller from Dania Beach, Evan Jenne from Hollywood and Amy Mercado and Carlos Guillermo Smith from Orlando — all Democrats.
Groups signing onto the letter include Equality Florida, the League of Women Voters, the ACLU of Florida and Mi Familia Vota.
