Denham abandons Dreamers; I won’t when elected to Congress

A young woman recently volunteered to work on my campaign. A student at Modesto Junior College, she speaks four languages and should be a great volunteer in my challenge to the incumbent in the 10th Congressional District, Jeff Denham.

That is, if she is still here to see the final outcome of our efforts. This volunteer is a Dreamer, one of roughly 3.6 million young men and women whose parents brought them into this country when they were children. In her case, she was just 3 years old.

Last October, the leader of Rep. Denham’s party, President Donald Trump, suddenly decided to end a program – the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA – which allowed people like this young volunteer to stay in America.

Denham has loudly said he wants to solve this problem – but his record back in Washington tells a different story.

Denham has consistently voted with the most extreme elements of his party, time and time again. This is despite knowing how much our local economy depends on the contributions of immigrant workers. Our community is enriched because of the immigrants and refugees among us – not just our Latino brothers and sisters, but also the Assyrian, Portuguese, Chinese, Sikh, Filipino and Hmong communities living throughout the Northern San Joaquin Valley.

Five years ago, there a bipartisan bill that would have given legal status not only to the Dreamers but also to 9 million other undocumented immigrants then in the U.S. passed the Senate 68-32. A handful of Republican Congressmen stood against it, preventing a House vote. Denham first promised to support that bill, but then reversed his position and opposed even bringing the bill to the floor for a vote!

This time around, Denham is doing the same thing.

He tells us he supports allowing the Dreamers to stay, but back in D.C. he’s consistently opposed bipartisan approaches to actually solve the problem.

Immigrants are at the heart and soul of the Central Valley. I teach at Modesto Junior College, and every day I see and hear the stories of hardworking young men and women trying to forge a future here.

Allowing these now grown children to continue to live and work with us not only is morally correct, it makes economic common sense. Just last season, over $13 million worth of crops rotted in two California counties alone. Why? Because of fear from the many ICE deportations of the hardworking immigrants who once worked there picking the crops.

Denham and Trump’s support of these inhumane deportation practices makes no sense.

My support of the Dreamers will be in both word and deed. It is the right thing to do.

This story was originally published March 1, 2018 at 11:46 AM with the headline "Denham abandons Dreamers; I won’t when elected to Congress."