Letter: Congress needs to act on DACA now

I want to thank Congressman Newhouse for initiating a letter to Speaker Paul Ryan. Thirty-four Republican congressmen signed this letter asking for action to pass a permanent solution for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) before the end of this year. This matter is urgent.

We have 17,000 DACA individuals in Washington state. They are college students, educators, medical professionals, business people, quality employees and civic leaders. Ryan’s response was “ he saw no need to act before March.” Wrong!

This leaves 800,000 DACA recipients as well as their families and employers anxious and insecure about the future. Without immediate action, DACA individuals will lose their jobs, their homes and their futures. This is not a partisan issue, this is a human issue. Paul Ryan, you should be ashamed!

Please contact your Congressional representatives and ask them to do the right thing and take action for DACA recipients before the end of the year.

This story was originally published December 15, 2017 at 6:08 PM with the headline "Letter: Congress needs to act on DACA now."