Senator Kamala Harris's first act in office is to protect DREAMers from Trump's deportation forces
In 2012, after years of attempts to get the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act — known as the DREAM Act — through Congress and onto his desk, President Obama announced that his administration would stop deporting certain young undocumented immigrants who met specific criteria, and who would have been protected by the DREAM Act. […]

In 2012, after years of attempts to get the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act — known as the DREAM Act — through Congress and onto his desk, President Obama announced that his administration would stop deporting certain young undocumented immigrants who met specific criteria, and who would have been protected by the DREAM Act. Later that year, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services began accepting requests under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
But with the election of Donald Trump and Congress remaining under Republican control, the futures of the DREAM Act, DACA, and the people those laws would protect are all in grave jeopardy. Trump, of course, has made no secret of his punitive immigration plans, from building a wall along the Mexican border to rescinding Obama’s executive order implementing DACA.
Many immigrants, including young children, are frightened of what will happen to them and their families once those plans get underway. But they have allies in the Democratic party, and particularly in California’s newly-elected Senator, Kamala Harris.
As California’s Attorney General, Harris was a staunch defender of immigrant rights, including supporting the state’s own version of the DREAM Act, and she has promised that California would be “a voice of leadership” in Washington on immigration reform.
Now, in her first move as Senator, she is making good on that promise and bringing her principled dedication to the fight:
As my first official act as California’s U.S. Senator, I’m co-sponsoring legislation protecting the 744K DREAMers from being deported.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) January 4, 2017
These individuals were raised in this country and deserve to fully participate and earn a piece of the American dream.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) January 4, 2017
Just as we did shortly after our election victory, I am letting our immigrant communities know exactly where I stand on immigration reform.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) January 4, 2017
Our diversity makes the fabric of our society stronger. We must embrace it, not reject it.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) January 4, 2017
Harris’s successor as Attorney General, Democratic Representative Xavier Becerra, has also promised to continue the work of putting California at the forefront of progressive immigration reform. As both he and Harris understand, in many cases, “As goes California, so goes the nation.”
California’s population of nearly 39 million includes roughly 2.67 million undocumented immigrants, almost a quarter of the undocumented population of the nation. Thus, the state is well-situated to provide an example of how to welcome and support immigrant communities, while demonstrating that doing so does not endanger society but rather broadens it to more fully realize the ideal of the United States as a melting pot.
And Harris is ready to bring that example to her new colleagues in Washington.
Recommended

Joni Ernst celebrates gutting of USAID after complaining that it was understaffed
The shuttering of USAID has imperiled food assistance programs in Kenya and Sudan.
By Jesse Valentine - February 06, 2025
Republicans choose Thune as majority leader, despite his record on veterans’ health care
Thune flip-flopped three times on providing care to veterans exposed to toxic substances.
By Jesse Valentine - December 30, 2024
Ted Cruz’s website made dubious and untrue claims about his support for veterans
Cruz voted against veterans programs, then claimed credit for supporting them.
By Jesse Valentine - December 30, 2024