WASHINGTON - [On September 5], the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nations largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) civil rights organization, called for action one year after Donald Trump and Mike Pence attempted to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, a widely popular federal policy that gives a renewable two-year period of deferred action to individuals who immigrated to the United States as children. The HRC continues to call on the White House to reinstate DACA, and on Congress to pass a clean DREAM Act to protect nearly two million Dreamers, including an estimated 75,000 LGBTQ Dreamers who could face unique risks and harms if deported from the only home theyve ever known.

It makes no sense why the Trump-Pence White House would continue to attempt to terminate a program that helps young people live productive lives and makes our country stronger, said HRC Government Affairs Director David Stacy. We have arrived at this point because Donald Trump and Mike Pence have spent the past 20 months fanning the flames of anti-immigrant sentiment, further dividing the American people and harming more than a million Dreamers, including 75,000 LGBTQ young people.

The Human Rights Campaign joined coalition partners last year in demanding a clean DREAM Act and consistently challenging the Trump-Pence White Houses callous attempts to hijack the federal budget process in order to end programs that help Dreamers. The HRC has also worked to reveal the high stakes of inaction through a video series that shared the deeply moving personal stories of individual LGBTQ Dreamers. According to research by the Williams Institute, about 267,000 undocumented adults identify as LGBTQ and about 75,000 of the Dreamers  those who would have been eligible for DACA - are LGBTQ.

One of those LGBTQ Dreamers is Yuridia, a 22-year-old queer DACA recipient and sexual violence survivor. It was only after she received DACA [status] that she was able to report her abuser to the police. Another one is Mo, an LGBTQ Dreamer who faces the tragedy of deportation after nearly a lifetime in the only country hes ever known. Viktor, a queer Dreamer from Texas, is proud to call this country his home.

The Human Rights Campaign is proud to join with its allies, like United We Dream and UnidosUS, to draw attention to the intersectional nature of social justice movements and how efforts to roll back any of our rights impact us all.

DACA recipients can still renew their status. Visit RenewMyDACA.com to learn more.

The Human Rights Campaign is Americas largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people. The HRC envisions a world where LGBTQ people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work, and in every community.

Courtesy of the HRC

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