Kentucky Business and Community Leaders Respond to Trump Administration’s Decision to End the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Program, Calls on Congress to Pass Bipartisan DREAM Act to Keep State Economy Strong

Louisville, KY — Today, local leaders responded to President Trump’s announcement to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Program, opposing the decision to remove the thousands of individuals that help make Kentucky’s economy stronger. The group called for Congressional solutions that instead harness the power of the foreign-born individuals eligible under DACA.

“Deporting young undocumented immigrants brought to our country by their parents would do nothing to strengthen our nation. These individuals have created lives and laid down roots in our communities,” said Glen Krebs, Immigration Attorney at Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs, LLP. “Their various talents and hard work help boost our local and national economies. Eliminating the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program is not the solution our country needs in its steps towards immigration reform.”

The group is working with New American Economy (NAE), a bipartisan organization that supports immigration reforms which help both American and foreign-born workers build a better economy.

In a brief released on Friday, Spotlight on the DACA-Eligible Population, NAE found that:

• As many as 5,459 Kentuckians are currently DACA-eligible
• Despite the rhetoric claiming undocumented youths are a drain on the Kentucky economy, 90.5 percent of the DACA-eligible population who are at least 16 years old are employed
• Kentucky’s DACA-eligible population earns almost $70.4 million in total income annually.
• Kentucky’s DACA-eligible population contributes more than $10 million in total taxes annually, $6.1 million of which goes to state and local tax revenue in the state of Kentucky

Jose Donis, Publisher of Al Dia en America, added, “The economic value of young immigrants is indisputable, yet today our leaders debate the future of these young people as if their worth is questionable. Beyond the question of whether these young people are an economic treasure to the nation, is our value as a nation where a human being is respected as such. It is one of the reasons why thousands have emigrated to this country over the centuries. In my opinion, denying thousands of immigrants of a future is like waking up at the end of a dream, and realizing the promise of the United States of America was all just an illusion.”