What do Toyota Kentucky, distilleries across the Commonwealth, and Churchill Downs (not to mention the entire horse racing industry) have in common? With a declining birth rate and very low migration into Kentucky, these staple industries are having trouble finding enough workers. If we don’t increase our labor pool, our most precious companies will suffer.
There are several ways policymakers can address this problem. Reforming our broken immigration system is one option, and the first step in that process would be to ensure that we keep current employees here and eligible to work. The Senate DREAM Act would do that by allowing young people who were brought to this country as children to remain here permanently.
Right now these individuals (called the Dreamers) can work and go to school here if they’ve applied for and been accepted to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. About 3,400 of Kentucky’s 6,000 Dreamers have enrolled. This solution is only temporary, however. It doesn’t give these young people a path to permanent residency. Their employment authorization and ability to stay in the U.S. can be taken away at any moment.
N. Kulkarni
In fact, that’s what the attorneys general of 10 U.S. states want. This group has told President Donald Trump they want him to end DACA. It’s hard to understand this position since voters, including almost 80 percent of Republican voters, overwhelmingly support the program. But if these AGs get their wish, these kids lose their jobs—and would be eligible for deportation.
Congress can stop that from happening if it passes the DREAM Act.
Fortunately, some leadership in Kentucky is on the right side of this issue. Our attorney general was not one of the 10 attorneys general pushing to end DACA and we have not one, but two, Senators who understand the urgency of this situation. In a television interview this past February, Sen. Rand Paul said that if the Dreamers are willing to work and to keep working, he’d like to find a way to give them legal status. That same month, Sen. Mitch McConnell explained that these young people “have grown up here or are in the process of growing up here” and said he was “sympathetic” to their plight.
I urge our Senators to turn their rhetoric into a real solution. Sen. Paul should co-sponsor the DREAM Act, and in his capacity as the Senate Majority Leader, Sen. McConnell should quickly schedule a vote on this legislation. I also urge our Attorney General Andy Beshear to make it clear that he supports the Dreamers. Twenty state AGs have already done so.
Dream Act legal status wouldn’t be available to just anyone. To be granted this privilege, Dreamers would have to subject themselves to law enforcement and security background checks—and even to a medical exam. They would have to pledge to work, and keep working, or to pursue higher education or military service. They would, of course, also have to keep their records clean and show they are committed to being productive citizens. The federal government could take away a Dreamer’s legal status if he or she didn’t fulfill these requirements.
That’s a pretty daunting list of action items, but it actually won’t be for the Dreamers. You see, most of them already are working and paying taxes here. I know because I have helped numerous young Kentuckians ascertain their eligibility and apply for DACA. All of them were working and paying taxes, many to put themselves through college. These kids are bright and ambitious. They contribute a great deal, both on an economic and cultural level, to the fabric of our society and deserve our support to continue to enrich our community.
According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the 3,380 DACA recipients in Kentucky pay more than $9 million in state and local taxes. The Center for American Progress says they contribute $155.5 million to the commonwealth’s economy.
With major industries already struggling to find workers, we cannot afford to let these contributions go.
Senators: pass the DREAM Act.
Nirumpama Kulkarni is founder & managing attorney at Indus Law Firm, PLLC in Louisville.
