Immigration Reform 2016: Clinton Campaign Enlists DREAMers to Drive Voter Registration, Woo Latino Communities
Hillary Clinton's campaign launched this week a new initiative to woo Latino voters by teaming with DREAMers to drive voter registration within these young immigrants' communities.
"We founded this program on the premise that, one by one - through friends, families, co-workers or classmates - DREAMers' futures would be considered on Election day," Lorella Praeli, Clinton's national director of the Latino Vote, said in a statement.
The program, dubbed "Mi sueño, Tu Voto" (translation: My Dream, Your Vote") was unveiled on the fourth anniversary of President Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and was created "to rally and 'secure commitments' from immigrants who can vote," the Washington Examiner reports.
Enacted on Aug. 15, 2012, Obama's DACA program was designed to temporarily protect young, undocumented immigrants from deportation and to offer them legal work employment opportunities, among other things.
Under DACA, UPI reports, approximately 730,000 young Latinos (or "DREAMers") are currently living in the U.S., though not legal citizens. The Development and Education for Alien Minors, or DREAM Act, that birthed this rising population of DREAMers is legislation proposed to allow immigrants who entered the United States prior to age 16 to become permanent residents, provided they attend college and/or enroll in the U.S. military.
"DREAMers have played a pivotal role in our campaign, advocating for families who constantly live in fear of deportation - so we've created a program that aims to turn these stories into action," Praeli said.
According to NBC News, the "Mi Sueño, Tu Voto" campaign is scheduled to host voter registration events throughout the country in the coming week, beginning in D.C. on Monday and then moving on to other cities in Florida, Nevada, and North Carolina.
Also on Monday, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) took time to acknowledge and celebrate the four-year DACA milestone and vowed that, if elected, Clinton will go above and beyond the accomplishments that Obama has managed during his time in office, in terms of immigration reform.
"Hillary Clinton is committed to introducing immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship within her first 100 days in office and she will continue defending DACA and DAPA from partisan attacks," a DNC representative said.
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