For most Coloradans, this November holds the promise of Thanksgiving, football and the start of ski season. But for more than 18,500 Coloradan Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival program recipients, myself included, November represents worry and unease.
This upcoming month, Dreamers like myself will idly wait as the Supreme Court debates the legality of the undoing of DACA — a federal program that has allowed us to legally study, work and contribute to the only country we have ever known — just over two years ago. This decision put nearly 700,000 DACA recipients at risk of deportation.
Since then, court injunctions have left temporary protections in place, but Dreamers have been forced to live in a state of anxiety and fear, with no certainty as to whether we will be stripped from our families, communities, schools and workplaces.
Colorado Dreamers study and work hard. We contribute more than $59 million in state and local taxes annually. Our removal would result in a more than $856 million loss in state gross domestic product alone.
Our fate must not rest with the Supreme Court. It is imperative that Sens. Cory Gardner and Michael Bennet work in a bipartisan manner with their Senate colleagues to finally pass a long-term solution that provides the permanent protections for Dreamers through legislation such as the Dream and Promise Act of 2019, which already passed in the House of Representatives. Our future and the future of Colorado depends on it.