WASHINGTON, D.C. – While speaking with Univision, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris teased an immigration reform bill she and President-elect Joe Biden plan to introduce that would grant green cards immediately to undocumented youth protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policies. In response to the news, Hispanic Access Foundation’s President and CEO Maite Arce released the following statement:

“Hispanic Access Foundation praises the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts to help protected undocumented youth by granting Permanent Resident Cards to those with DACA and TPS status, and decreasing wait times to obtain citizenship.

“The pandemic has shown how little support undocumented youth receive and citizenship is a major step to empowering them. Dreamers are part of our community and make significant economic contributions to our country’s prosperity.

“HAF's “Our DREAMS Scholarship” was created to help undocumented youth with emergency aid funds, whether it's to apply for DACA, TPS, or for their basic needs. This initiative is more important now more than ever.  We appreciate the incoming administration's attention to immigration -- we urge them to help a community that has been disenfranchised for far too long.”

Over the next 10 years, Dreamers will contribute an estimated $433 billion to the GDP, $60 billion in fiscal impact, and $12.3 billion in tax dollars directly to Social Security and Medicare if they are allowed to continue to work legally in the U.S.