Equality Illinois stand
s with the Dreamers. Immigrants are part of the fabric of America. Here we believe in tolerance, inclusion, liberty, and fairness. President Trump’s policy today is an absolute betrayal of American values.
Click HERE to urge your member of Congress to support the Dream Act and reject Trump’s anti-DACA policy.
The president’s policy is cruel and mean-spirited. According to the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, there are over 75,000 lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Dreamers in the United States. Of those, over 36,000 have participated in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Ending DACA is very much a life and death decision for these LGBT Dreamers. They not only face terrifying expulsion from the only country they know as home but also discrimination and violence after deportation because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. This is not who we are as a country or a state.
As a welcoming state that is the home of more than 40,000 DACA participants, Illinois’ elected officials must step up now and defend our Dreamers and our values. Thank you to our U.S. Senator Dick Durbin for his longtime leadership to protect Dreamers and sponsorship of the Dream Act.
We call on Governor Bruce Rauner and the Illinois congressional delegation to condemn the president’s policy publicly, vigorously, and without equivocation. Our members of Congress should move forward quickly on passing the Dream Act of 2017, and Governor Rauner should forcefully support that initiative. That’s how you defend our values in the Land of Lincoln.