Gallego on Dreamers: ‘Stephen Miller Is a Coward and a Racist’

Senator Highlights Need for Path to Citizenship for Dreamers at Spotlight Forum WASHINGTON – Today, Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) spoke at a spotlight forum highlighting the urgent need for a path to citizenship for Dreamers. Watch Senator Gallego at the spotlight forum here and read excerpts below: In his opening remarks, Gallego called out Stephen Miller for blocking Republicans from passing the Dream Act : “I don’t have to repeat what we feel about Dreamers. They are Americans in everything except for them being citizens. I count many Dreamers as practically family to me and close friends. “What this administration is doing is they’re basically being cowards because they know that Dreamers and the Dream Act have bipartisan support. […] They’re trying to do it in a backdoor way by basically making it so difficult for Dreamers to get their permission renewed again to the point where then that they’re finally exposed to deportation. […] “This is Steven Miller being a coward. Stephen Miller is really just, in general, a coward and a racist. This is him trying to effectively get as many Dreamers out as possible.” Gallego also spoke with the Chief Robert Rodriguez, Chief of Police for the Santa Ana Police Department who served in the Marine Corps. Rodriguez, who was brought to the U.S. as an undocumented child himself and later obtained U.S. citizenship, has DACA recipients on his police force but will likely have to fire them as a result of delays in their DACA renewal being adjudicated. “You’re an example of how so many Dreamers serve the country: police officers, teachers. By the way, I don’t if people talk about that, how many teachers are DACA recipients? How many EMTs, firefighters? These people are very essential. As a matter of fact, during COVID, we at least classified them as essential workers. But they’re not essential workers when we want to deport them,” said Senator Gallego. “That’s a very good example of the hypocrisy of this nation right now.” Senator Gallego has consistently stood up for Dreamers in the Senate. Last May, Senator Gallego introduced a plan to address the broken state of America’s border and immigration system. Pillar four of the plan emphasizes providing a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers and long-term undocumented residents who contribute to our communities. Gallego joined 40 Senate colleagues in urging U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to resume processing DACA applications nearly three months after a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that limited a nationwide injunction to Texas. Gallego reintroduced the Fight for the American Dream Act , which allows DACA participants to serve in the United States military and provides them a pathway toward U.S. citizenship after their service. Gallego demanded answers from DHS on the agency’s targeting and arrest of Dreamers.