Gisele Fetterman: Protecting Dreamers is a moral imperative

As someone who grew up undocumented in the U.S., I understand all too well the pain of growing up in the shadows and the stress caused by the uncertainty of the situation. I have spoken out many times over the years about the urgent need to protect the “Dreamers,” people who were brought to the United States as children and have lived here for nearly all of their lives.

I was so thrilled in 2012, when President Obama established the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that would give a new generation of Dreamers the kinds of protections I dreamed of as a child and allowed them the opportunity to build lives for themselves in the only country they have ever known.

The program has been a tremendous success. Today, there are more than 500,000 DACA recipients living and thriving in the U.S., and more than a million U.S. citizens share a household with a DACA recipient. These are people who have gone to school, started families, paid taxes and built businesses. They’re people who have deep roots in their local communities. But, unfortunately, that could all be ripped away from them soon.

Two years ago, on the 10th anniversary of DACA , I urged Congress to protect Dreamers by passing the Dream and Promise Act, but the bill remains stalled. Now, as I write on the 12th anniversary, I fear this may be the last one.

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals is currently considering a challenge to the constitutionality of the program, and, no matter how they rule, the question is likely to be ultimately resolved by the Supreme Court.

If the program is overturned, it will have a devastating effect on millions of families who once again will find themselves in the kind of limbo I grew up with and that I would never wish on anyone else.

Upending the lives of so many families who simply want to live in the country they have always considered home would not only be a moral stain on our country but would weaken the communities we all call home.

The average DACA recipient has lived in this country for 24 years. They are the parents of more than 300,000 U.S. citizen children. To deny them a pathway to citizenship is not just needlessly cruel, it’s cutting off our own nose to spite our face.

Protecting these families clearly is a moral imperative, but it’s also incredibly popular. Polls consistently have shown voters are strongly in favor of providing paths to legal status for DACA recipients, with approval numbers above 70%. It also is popular with a clear majority of Republican voters. There simply is no good reason, political or otherwise, why we shouldn’t allow the Dreamers to formally call this country home.

When Obama introduced DACA, he said, “These are young people who study in our schools, they play in our neighborhoods, they’re friends with our kids, they pledge allegiance to our flag. They are Americans in their heart, in their minds, in every single way but one: on paper.”

If Congress won’t act, then President Biden has the opportunity to build upon the successful program his predecessor established and cement his own legacy as a president who looks out for the most vulnerable among us. Using his executive powers, he could provide protections for millions of other undocumented Americans — like undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens.

President Biden has rightly criticized former President Trump for his cruel policies of separating families at the border, but it’s also important not to overlook the families with deep roots here who have to live in constant fear that they will be separated from the ones they love most.

We need to live up to the promise of America by protecting those who, like I once was, are forced to live in the shadows and be invisible.

America is at its best when it is compassionate and welcoming. These qualities are what make us worthy of being a “city upon a hill,” that can serve as a shining example to the rest of the world.

Gisele Barreto Fetterman is the founder of Freestore 15104, which redistributes surplus and donated goods to people in need, and co-founder of 412 Food Rescue, a community-wide effort to end hunger and reduce food waste, and For Good PGH, a nonprofit that works to advocate inclusion and inspire kindness. She is the wife of U.S. Sen. John Fetterman.