North Miami-Dade News

This week, Representatives María Elvira Salazar (R-FL), Sylvia García (D-TX), and other lawmakers reintroduced the "bipartisan Dream and Promise Act" (H.R. 1589). This legislation aims to provide permanent legal status to Dreamers, undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children. It also includes Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) beneficiaries.

Miami is home to many Dreamers who live and work in the U.S., contributing significantly to their communities and the nation's economy. The bill offers these individuals certainty about their future in the country.

"This country has no better opportunity than now to give hundreds of thousands of Dreamers who have lived among us as friends, family, and community members the dignity promised many years ago," said Representative Salazar. "I am proud to co-lead the American Dream and Promise Act because it is time for Dreamers and their families to live in the Promised Land as Americans."

"Dreamers are Americans in every way except on paper. For decades, they have contributed to shaping America but are currently denied their place in its history," said Representative García. "Our nation cannot afford to lose small business owners, talent, artists, aspiring public servants, and the drive that Dreamers bring. If that's not American, I don't know what is. The American Dream and Promise Act includes them in American history—a part that has been absent for too long."

The 2025 version of this act:

- Protects eligible Dreamers by granting conditional permanent residency for ten years and halts deportation proceedings.

- Provides a pathway to citizenship for eligible Dreamers by granting full Legal Permanent Resident (LPR) status.

- Offers LPR status to individuals with TPS or DED.

- Protects both Dreamers and TPS or DED recipients during their application process under this act.

- Grants eligible Dreamers access to federal financial aid.

- Allows qualified overseas Dreamers to apply for assistance.

- Prevents penalizing states offering in-state tuition rates based on residency.

The 2025 version mirrors the one passed by the House of Representatives during the 117th Congress and reintroduced in the 118th Congress.

Salazar remains a leading Republican voice on practical immigration reform within Congress since joining the House of Representatives.

BACKGROUND:

Dreamers have spent nearly all their lives in America—attending schools, earning degrees, building careers—and contribute billions annually while considering it home. Many have formed families with U.S.-born children; for instance: an average DACA recipient arrived at age six living here twenty years since then—similar patterns exist among longtime-resident TPS holders who enrich local economies nationwide through significant contributions fiscally & economically alike each year alone paying $6 billion federal taxes plus another $3 billion state/local levels respectively per annum according Center Progress America's estimates suggesting national GDP could grow further upwards reaching nearly eight hundred-billion dollars over coming decade given citizenship pathways available thereby boosting wages across board creating hundreds-thousands new jobs collectively earning close-to thirty-billion dollars adding two-billion-plus towards Social Security Medicare systems despite current-ineligibility legally speaking under present laws governing such matters today!