Kamala Harris hosted DACA recipients and dreamers on Thursday following the Texas federal court decision ruling last week that the program protecting illegal immigrants was created unlawfully by former President Barack Obama.
'I want to make clear to the dreamers that are here, and to those who are watching from home, this is your home, this is your home, and we see you and you are not alone,' Harris assured the group as she spoke to the press ahead of the meeting.
The vice president assured those in the meeting that the Texas court ruling 'will not immediately impact current DACA recipients, also it will put hundreds of thousands of young immigrants in jeopardy. But our administration is taking action.'
President Joe Biden vowed to appeal the ruling, which declared the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program illegal.
He called the decision 'deeply disappointing' and is urging Congress to act to protect the hundred of thousands of so-called Dreamers who are and aren't currently protected under DACA.
'We need Congress to finally create a pathway towards citizenship,' Harris said.
Vice President Kamala Harris held a meeting with DACA recipients and other so-called Dreamers on Thursday after a federal court ruling in Texas deemed the program illegal
'I want to make clear to the dreamers that are here, and to those who are watching from home, this is your home,' Harris assured the group
Border apprehensions hit record numbers under the Biden administration and have continued to climb since March. An El Salvadorian man is processed by an Border Patrol agent in Sunland Park, New Mexico on Thursday
Harris revealed she spoke with Senator Dick Durbin last night about DACA and claimed: 'We stand in solidarity on this issue - we will not give up.'
The 'dreamers' are those who were brought to the U.S. illegally by their parents when they were children. Currently there are approximately 650,000 people in the U.S. being protected by DACA.
The Department of Justice, Biden said, will file an appeal 'to preserve and fortify DACA'. And Harris said Thursday that the Department of Homeland Security will also propose a new rule about DACA.
'The President and I,' Harris said at the Thursday meeting, 'are unequivocal that we recognize you for the Americans that you are, and that we recognize that you deserve all the rights that come with American citizenship.'
'Many arrived in their home country, the United States, before they could walk or talk,' she continued. 'Many have been living recently, these years, a life of uncertainty even though this is the only country they have ever known. They deserve a pathway to citizenship.'
Obama's administration created and implemented in 2012 the DACA program, which was almost immediately denounced by Republicans as an unlawful get around to immigration laws.
Donald Trump, and border hawks on his team, promised to get rid of DACA and other programs he felt encouraged illegal immigration.
A group of Republican states sued to finally end the program that protects immigrants brought to the U.S. as children from deportation.
A Border Patrol agent processes a group of illegal border jumpers in Sunland Park, New Mexico on July 22, 2021
Customs and Border Protection revealed that 188,829 migrants were stopped at the southwest border in June – a continued increase from months prior
U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen sided with the states. He said the program violates the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) because Obama introduced it by executive order and blocked new applications.
Harris' team said her meeting on Thursday was part of the administration's larger plan to address the border crisis and American immigration system in general.
Biden has experienced the biggest southern border crisis in recent history, with record numbers of encounters each month since March, with no sign of it slowing.
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