A Florida Senate Committee passed a measure urging Congress to preserve the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program, or DACA.
The Children, Families, and Elder Affairs committee voted in favor of the bill by a vote of three to two. The measure will now be heard by the Senate Judiciary Committee. DACA was put into place by the Obama Administration in 2012. It allows minors, so-called Dreamers, who entered the country illegally to be protected from deportation and receive a work visa. The bill’s sponsor, Miami-Dade Democrat Daphne Campbell, says Congress must protect Dreamers.
“And we have to understand these children didn’t ask to go through all this," says Campbell. "These children didn’t ask to come to America when they were little. These children are innocent and I don’t think they should pay for any wrongdoing by their parents.”
The Trump Administration canceled DACA last September, but announced it would give Congress six months to pass legislation protecting the program. There’s been bipartisan support for passing an alternative, but lawmakers have yet to reach an agreement.
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