DALLAS, TX – The Dream Action Coalition lauds the effort of senate judiciary committee chairman Patrick Leahy to provide a space for republicans and democrats to improve the “gang of 8?‘s immigration bill.

From keeping a path to citizenship for the undocumented families in this country to clarifying citizenship path for Dreamers who serve in the military, members of both parties have played an important part in ensuring the American people see their government work efficiently.

However, Dreamers will continue to expose the obstruction that extreme voices like Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala), Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex), and Sen. Cornyn (R-Tex) have shown against immigration reform. Specifically, Sen. Cruz attempt to eliminate a path to citizenship demonstrates an alarming disregard to solving and modernizing our outdated immigration system that continues to separate our families and slow our economy. Indeed, Texas Dreamers were present in Washington DC to confront Cruz on his continued stance against Latinos’ demand to pass immigration reform.

Similarly, we express regret that Senator Cornyn continues to be manipulated by Sen. Cruz extreme ideology by supporting the junior senator’s stances.

In addition, even though we understand the Gang of Eight wants to keep this bill alive and see it passed through the Senate, we are disappointed at the fact that amendments such as Leahy 7, which would only give the same opportunity for LGBTQ couples to petition for their spouses, was opposed.

We also thank Senator Hatch for expressing his support on this bill for the first time. He has been a champion for Dreamer in the past, and we hope that we can count on his support until the end.

Our teams from across the country will continue tell our stories to show the true face of undocumented immigrants as well as to take the Senators’ records to the American people, particularly Latino voters, to know who is serious about solving a pressing problem and who is playing politics.