United States | Lexington

Congress should act now to protect Dreamers

The lame-duck session is America’s best chance to honour its obligation to child immigrants

The competition is admittedly not fierce. Yet in the long history of giving names to bills and executive orders, there has surely been none so packed with double meaning and poignant implication as “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals” (DACA). That was the name that President Barack Obama gave his order covering hundreds of thousands of people, known as Dreamers, who were brought to America illegally as children. They dreamed of becoming citizens but were at risk instead of being expelled, a danger stayed by Mr Obama’s order.

This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “When Dreamers are deferred”

Frozen out

From the November 26th 2022 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

Discover more

Former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, speaks to the press after the Maryland Senate debate in Maryland.

Why Larry Hogan’s long-odds bid for a Senate seat matters

He offers conservatives a pragmatic path beyond Trumpism

Democratic suppporters at the campaign trail for Vice President Harris, Pittsburgh, USA.

Polarisation by education is remaking American politics

The battle for Pennsylvania is a test case for new coalitions of Democrats and Republicans



Hurricane Milton inundates Florida

Three factors laid the ground for its destructiveness

Shirley Chisholm is still winning

The first black woman to run for president taught a lesson in making political change

US election forecast: who will control the House of Representatives?

Our prediction model assesses each party’s chance of winning the chamber