Total Number of Pages: 3  

Suggested Title: In Support of US Dreamers  

Resolution #3164: Dream Act - Amend and Readopt  

General Church Budget Implications: None  

Global Implications: No 

Whereas, fFor generations, workers millions of people and their young children have come  migrated to the US United States without authorization seeking freedom, peace, safety, and  economic opportunity. to satisfy the labor needs, of our nation, contributing to its economic  development. These children are now young adults who are denied the opportunity to live fully  

in society, and, Whereas, these children are being penalized by increased college tuition, various  prohibitions to pursuing professional careers and more and are denied the opportunity to practice  their profession because of due to their immigration status.; and 

Whereas, tThe Federal DREAM Act—first introduced in Congress in 2001 and reintroduced  regularly since—is a bipartisan legislation that would opens the possibility of higher education,  as well as and a conditional pathway to US citizenship, for undocumented students individuals  who were brought to the US as children and youths. (before their 16th birthday), and who are  now caught in a situation that is not of their own making. The Act It would require these  undocumented young people such students, sometimes known as “The Dreamers,” to complete a  college degree certain educational requirements or or two years ofmilitary service in order to be  granted temporary residency and then be eligible to apply for US citizenship.

While other efforts, such as the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program,  have sought to provide some security for some Dreamers, DREAM legislation remains a  comprehensive measure addressing the broad population of over 1.8 million “Dreamers” in the  US. 

Since 2012, The UMC has affirmed support of the DREAM Act. We continue that support. 

We oppose attempts to use Dreamers as bargaining chips, exchanging their security and access to  citizenship in the US for that of their parents, family members, or others in the immigrant  community. In immigration discussions, the parents of Dreamers have often been implicitly or  explicitly vilified as the culprits of the situation in which Dreamers find themselves now.  Dreamers have also been stereotyped as “good immigrants,” at the expense of other migrants  who are stereotyped as “bad immigrants.” These characterizations are inaccurate and unjust.  Christian ethics of migration acknowledge a broader and more complex spread of responsibility,  one in which citizens and host countries are complicit in systemic failures of immigration justice. 

Therefore, wWe, the General Conference of The United Methodist Church, support US  Dreamers, their families, and legislation that provides Dreamers urge the US Congress to adopt  the DREAM Act and provide for these children, who have lived most their lives in this country, access to educational opportunities, pathways to citizenship and full participation in the life of  the only nation they have known, and identify with, the US, which they call home.

Date: August 26, 2019  

The Rev. Susan Henry-Crowe General Secretary

Bishop Sally Dyck  

President of the Board  

General Board of Church & Society Phone: 202-488-5629  

E-mail Address: gso@umcjustice.org