By Kritika Agarwal
On February 26, a bipartisan group of 201 lawmakers, led by Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-TX), reintroduced the American Dream and Promise Act of 2025 in the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill would create a pathway to citizenship for certain recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, children of certain nonimmigrant visa holders, and individuals who are beneficiaries of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) or Deferred Enforced Departure (DED).
The DACA program currently provides protection from deportation for more than 100,000 college students and hundreds of thousands of other young people who were brought to the United States as children through no fault of their own; DACA beneficiaries are sometimes referred to as “Dreamers.”
As Congresswoman Garcia noted, “Dreamers are American in every way but on paper. For decades, they have contributed to and shaped the fabric of America. Yet, they are currently denied their place in the American story. Our nation cannot afford to lose the small business owners, the talent, the artists, the 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 writes them into the American story – a part that has been missing for too long.”
The legality of the DACA program is currently under scrutiny by the courts – earlier this year, the 5th U.S. Circuit Cort of Appeals found that major portions of a Biden-era regulation intended to preserve the program are unlawful. While U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services continues to accept and process DACA renewal requests, it is no longer processing any new initial requests from individuals seeking to benefit from the program. The American Dream and Promise Act would deliver certainty to Dreamers by allowing them to earn lawful permanent residence and a path to citizenship.
AAU has long advocated for a lasting solution for DACA recipients and endorses the American Dream and Promise Act. As AAU President Barbara R. Snyder noted back in 2022, “We cannot afford to waste our home-grown talent in science and other fields, and a lack of congressional action to codify protections for Dreamers risks doing just that. Congress must act, now, on a policy that enjoys broad bipartisan support: immigration reform that includes permanent protections for DACA recipients.”
Kritika Agarwal is senior editorial officer at AAU.