January 10, 2018

Dear Speaker Ryan, Leader McConnell, Leader Schumer, and Leader Pelosi:

We write to urge Congress to act immediately and pass a permanent bipartisan legislative solution to enable Dreamers who are currently living, working, and contributing to our communities to continue doing so. The imminent termination of the DACA program is creating an impending crisis for workforces across the country.

It is critical that Congress act to pass legislation before January 19th. This window of action leaves only 45 days for implementation prior to March 5th. As a bipartisan group of former DHS secretaries has recently written, it will take time for the agency to implement any program outlined by Congress, underscoring the absolute urgency of the January 19th deadline. In addition to causing a tremendous upheaval in the lives of DACA employees, failure to act in time will lead to businesses losing valuable talent, cause disruptions in the workforce, and will result in significant costs.

Studies by economists across the ideological spectrum have also determined that if Congress fails to act our economy could lose $215 billion in GDP.

We have seen time and again that the overwhelming majority of the American public of all political backgrounds agrees that we should protect Dreamers from deportation.

While delay or inaction will cause significant negative impact to businesses, hundreds of thousands of deserving young people across the country are counting on you to work in a bipartisan way to pass permanent legislative protection for Dreamers without further delay.

Respectfully,