Statement of Mary Meg McCarthy, Executive Director, National Immigrant Justice Center

President Trump and Congress must stop playing political games with people’s lives. Americans deserve a fully funded government, health services for children, a strong disaster relief system and an immigration system that ensures members of our communities will not be needlessly torn away and exiled to countries they do not know. The National Immigrant Justice Center is disappointed that members of Congress repeatedly defer their responsibility and once again have failed to reach a final agreement to protect Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients and their families. Each day that Congress fails to create a solution to the crisis President Trump created by ending DACA, more than 100 immigrant Dreamers become subject to deportation. We believe in an America of liberty, opportunity, and hope, and we call on Congress to remember it is their job to uphold that promise and protect all of our communities. We only hope that the agreement to negotiate an immigration deal before February 8 represents a true willingness by both parties to, at last, work together to find a solution. We will hold Senators Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Charles Schumer (D-NY) accountable for the promises they made this morning to the American people, who overwhelming support a legislative solution for Dreamers.