Ahead of President-elect Donald Trump's return to the White House, California Sen. Alex Padilla is among those urging President Joe Biden to take action to protect undocumented immigrants, particularly so-called DACA "Dreamers," before leaving office.
Parents of "Dreamers" brought them to the United States as children, and they currently are considered protected from deportation. But Trump has said he intends to end the DACA program, potentially opening up all "Dreamers" to deportation.
"The good news is there is still time for President Biden to do more to protect immigrants in the United States," Padilla said.
Padilla is teaming up with other Democratic lawmakers in Washington to lobby the Biden administration to take preemptive action to protect "Dreamers."
"A lot of 'Dreamers' are applying to renew their DACA status," Padilla said. "We want to make sure that the Department of Homeland Security is processing all those applications as quickly as possible so there’s nobody caught up on a waiting list or was left behind when the transition happens on Jan. 20."
Padilla also wants to protect immigrants legally in the U.S. under what's known as Temporary Protected Status (TPS) – another program Trump has vowed to end. They’re usually immigrants from Central America and Ukraine who have been allowed to stay in the U.S. because returning to their home country could be life-threatening.
"We want to see if we can extend the timeframe for those TPS protections further, deeper into a Trump administration so they’re not as vulnerable in the first couple of months," Padilla said.
Sandra Mendoza Tavares said she sometimes feels like she's walking around in a fog, wondering and worrying about what may happen to her brothers who are "Dreamers."
She said her brothers are now college graduates who remain in legal limbo.
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. >Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
"The situation is very difficult and sad," she said in Spanish.
She applauded Padilla’s moves, saying right now she can only wait and worry about what might come next.
