Immigrants and their supporters are calling on Congressman John Katko to support legislation for recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, known as DACA.They say they want Katko to support a “clean” Dream Act. Rebecca Fuentes is with United We Dream.
"The federal govt is proposing legislation but it’s tied to more enforcement, a wall. We don’t want that, we want it clean."
The group is also asking Katko not to support the expansion of the H2A guest worker visa program that would allow more people to come to the U-S to work on dairy farms, but would not add any protections for their working conditions.
Aly Wayne is an organizer with the Syracuse Peace Council.
"It is a hypocrisy that this country continues to live with that it continues to sit down at the table and eats the food that has been produced by undocumented, exploited labor."
Fuentes and other supporters say without the Act more families will be separated. Community Organizer Diana Sanchez says because of deportations, many families will not be together for the Thanksgiving holiday.
"What I want to tell Katko is as he sit at the table just think about it, would he like to be in a place where certain family members will not be there because maybe they’re deported to another faraway country. He has that power to change that to stop separations is if he chooses to."
Sanchez says that a clean Dream Act will help more than 800 thousand people living in the country with DACA.
Katko’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.