Maloney with Dreamers
NEWBURGH – Days before the government is set to shut down and months
before beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)
program face deportation, Representative Sean Patrick Maloney (D, NY18)
invited three “dreamers,” for a conference and media briefing
at SUNY Orange Newburgh.
“Dreamers” are individuals who were brought to America as
children and are living in the country legally but are in jeopardy of
being deported by March 5th if Congress fails to act.
The DACA program, created under President Obama, allows individuals who
came to the U.S. as children and have stayed out of legal trouble to stay
in the country without fear of deportation.
In September, President Trump announced that the program would be eliminated
by March 5, 2018 if no action was taken by Congress.
Additionally, the government is set to shut down by January 19th without
passage of a new spending bill. Many members of Congress, including Rep.
Maloney, have withheld their support for recent spending bills because
they failed to include protections for these immigrants.
Maloney began by slamming Trump’s recent pronouncements, including
reported offensive language directed at Haiti and Africa while saying
he would welcome people from Norway and Asia. Trump had just met with
the prime minister of Norway.
“I work every day with Republicans in the Hudson Valley who do not
talk like this, who do not think like this, who believe in the party of
Lincoln and who believe that we can welcome people from all over the world
and turn them into productive Americans, mostly because the people who
come here are seeking the American Dream,” Maloney said.
That’s what is driving Diana Cruz, brought here from Mexico by parents
17 years ago. Her inspiration in life is her father.
“He would later raise me as a single parent after my mom passed
away and he’s always worked despite aches and pains and he’s
done so because he believes in happy endings and in this case, his happy
ending would be myself and a generation of descents that live productive
lives in this country,” Cruz said.
Maloney said a majority of Americans are on her side.
“It is completely outrageous to think that we would be shutting
down the federal government over an issue that 80 percent of the American
public supports. That is so simple as to allow young people who have done
nothing wrong, who are playing by the rules to continue to work and to
contribute to our country.”
That’s all Cruz wants.
“I would like a pathway to citizenship. I would like to know that
I can continue to live and contribute to this country.”
Cruz said after President Obama announced the DACA program in 2012, she
“felt unstoppable.” Part of her plan is aggressively pursuing
a higher education, including a double major at SUNY New Paltz in Latin
American Studies and International Affairs and is working on a master’s
in International Affairs at SUNY Albany.
