Sen. Lindsey Graham seeks to protect DREAMers

South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham and Illinois Democrat Sen. Dick Durbin plan to introduce a new version of the Dream Act, Thursday, which would allow young immigrants who were brought to the United States illegally as children to be put on a path toward citizenship.

The bipartisan bill is the latest attempt in a long-stalled legislative process to protect from deportation some 800,000 people who have registered as DREAMers – which stands for Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors – since then-President Obama and the Department of Homeland Security began to implement Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) on Aug. 15, 2012.

The latest attempt comes as the governor of Idaho and attorneys general from 10 states, including South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, have issued a deadline calling for President Trump to rescind DACA and not issue any more permits by Sept. 5, or they will sue to end the program. DACA offers temporary relief from deportation for illegal immigrants who register with the government and allows them to get social security numbers so they can work, pay taxes and go to college.

Some states, including South Carolina, have added tougher measures to limit the jobs and education opportunities DREAMers can pursue.

The 7,061 DREAMers in South Carolina can't get occupational permits for more than 40 jobs, including as licensed nurses, dental hygienists, optometrists, physical therapists, social workers, marriage counselors, veterinary technicians, plumbers, emergency medial technicians, real estate appraisers or cosmetologists.

South Carolina also doesn't offer DREAMers in-state tuition at its colleges and universities, won't allow them to receive state or federal grants and doesn't allow them to participate in work-study programs.

It's unclear how federal Dream Act legislation would affect existing DREAMers in South Carolina, but offering a path to citizenship would allow them to pursue occupations and education opportunities that are now off-limits to non-citizens in the state.

Texas is leading the legal charge to overturn DACA and would likely sue in the same court where it succeeded in overturning President Obama’s expansion of deferred action against parents in 2014, according to a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions penned by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. That case rose to the Supreme Court where a 4-4 deadlock allowed the expansion to be overturned. Since then, conservative justice Neil Gorsuch has been added to the bench, increasing the state officials likelihood of success in overturning DACA.

Trump extended DACA in June and has said he’d like to see comprehensive immigration reform but that the climate in Washington isn’t ready for it yet. He and Sessions have taken a hard line on immigration enforcement so far in his presidency.

Legislative action could thwart the attempts to have DACA rescinded and would offer the greatest protection for DREAMers already registered in the program. It offers the latest in a long string of bipartisan attempts to protect DREAMers since the first act was introduced in 2001. Graham and Durbin have been involved in a number of those attempts.

Graham and Durbin’s Dream Act of 2017 would be similar to earlier Dream Act guidelines, according to The Hill.