ATLANTA, GA – Today, the U.S. House of Representatives took a historic step forward by passing the Dream and Promise Act, vital legislation that would provide an earned pathway to citizenship for more than two million people. This is only the fourth time in more than 30 years that legislation providing permanent protections for undocumented communities has passed even one chamber of Congress. FWD.us Georgia State Director Sam Aguilar issued the following statement:

“The historic passage of the Dream and Promise Act in the U.S. House of Representatives is an important step forward in permanently protecting more than two million Dreamers and TPS holders across the country from deportation, including 75,000 Georgians who have built their lives here over decades. This critical legislation will keep Georgia families together and allow these vital communities to more fully contribute to our state through their innovation and entrepreneurship. Dreamers and TPS holders are integral to the fabric of our state and desperately deserve certainty and relief. We urge the Senate to take up the Dream and Promise Act immediately and vote in favor of smart, sensible legislation that will keep families together and create a more prosperous Georgia for all.”

Background
The Dream and Promise Act of 2019 (H.R.6) would create an earned path to citizenship for more than two million people who have contributed to American communities for decades, including DACA recipients, DACA-eligible individuals, TPS holders and DED recipients. Roughly 75,000 Georgians would qualify for permanent protections under this vital legislation. These individuals live with more than 35,000 U.S.-born citizen children and, on average, have lived in the United States since 1997. (Center for American Progress)

Today’s vote is historically significant, and is only the fourth time in more than 30 years that major immigration legislation that provides permanent protections for immigrant communities has passed even one chamber of Congress.

Available For Comment:
The individuals below are available for comment on the historic passage of the Dream and Promise Act (H.R. 6):

TPS Holder: Roxana Chicas (Norcross, GA)
Ph.D. Candidate and Nurse, Emory University
Roxana Chicas, BSN, RN arrived in the United States when she was 4 years old, having traveled with her mother. She was eighteen years old when TPS was extended to include El Salvador and she became a holder. Roxana is a Ph.D. candidate and clinical instructor at Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University. As a TPS holder, not only is her driver’s license attached to her work authorization card, but also her registered nursing license. Chicas was a member of the inaugural class of the Bridges to the Baccalaureate Scholar program at Emory University, which supports nurses from underrepresented groups to attain nursing bachelor’s degrees.

DACA Recipient: Raymond Partolan (Georgia)
Immigration Paralegal, Kuck | Baxter Immigration LLC
Mr. Raymond Partolan is an Immigration Paralegal at Kuck | Baxter Immigration LLC working primarily on complex family-based immigration cases before USCIS and litigation before the immigration courts. Before joining Kuck | Baxter Immigration, LLC, Raymond spent several years as the Program Associate at Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Atlanta, a nonprofit law and advocacy center for Asian Americans across the Southeast. There, he was a BIA Accredited Representative and prepared family immigration petitions for the most underserved populations. He has been named one of the 25 Most Influential Asian Americans in Georgia two years in a row. An avid musician, he won three Grammy Awards in 2019 for his work on the highly-acclaimed jazz album, American Dreamers: Voices of Hope, Music of Freedom. He received a certificate from the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. for his coursework on immigration law and graduated summa cum laude from Mercer University in Macon, Georgia.

Jaime Rangel (Dalton, GA)
Georgia State Immigration Associate, FWD.us
Jaime was born in Mexico and came to the U.S. at a young age. He currently resides in Dalton, GA. He has lived in the U.S. for almost all of his life. His family works in the carpet mills and factories that make Dalton the “carpet capital of the world.” He played varsity baseball in high-school where he watched many teammates get amazing opportunities that weren’t available to him because of his citizenship status. Because of his immigration status, Jaime paid out of state tuition at his college, despite having grown up in Dalton. Jaime’s status motivated him to get civically engaged and involved in politics. He is a graduate of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials (GALEO) Institute for Leadership program, which springboard his political involvement. He works closely with the mayor, city council members and state legislature representatives in Dalton and acts as a Hispanic liaison between their offices and the Hispanic community.