WASHINGTON, D.C. — American workers thrive when immigrants enter the workforce well-educated, well-trained and able to generate jobs.
In fact, researchers have found that immigrants start more than a quarter of new businesses and started more than 40 percent of Fortune 500 companies, creating new jobs. Ensuring that immigrants have the opportunities to reach their full potential is a major step toward adding opportunities for all of us.
This week, a judge’s decision will help make that possible: Immigrants with permission to stay in the U.S. thanks to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) may pay in-state tuition in Georgia, the judge ruled Tuesday.
The ruling highlights the lost potential should the Trump administration repeal DACA.
Across the country, DACA recipients continue to build their communities in ways that help all Americans prosper.
DACA recipients have moved their educations and careers ahead, from a medical interpreter and aspiring business student in north Texas to a teacher and a biology student in Florida. These are just a few examples of DACA recipients making Americans’ lives better.
“These young people have much to offer the country and we stand to benefit from the many contributions they will make to America,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) tweeted last month as he and others introduced the bipartisan BRIDGE Act, which would protect DACA recipients pending a long-term legislative solution.
“American workers directly benefit from the value of immigrants and immigration to our nation,” said Ali Noorani, Executive Director of the National Immigration Forum. “Judge Tusan’s ruling in Georgia is another sign that America has much to gain from DACA recipients and much to lose should the program be rescinded. The new Congress needs to help create and shore up such openings for all Americans to thrive. The alternative would set all of us back.”