Guest column: Without permanent solution for Dreamers, young Oklahomans could face deportation

Election season is upon us in Oklahoma, and many of our congressional delegation candidates have campaigned on their prayers for America and their application of faith values in policymaking.

U.S. Sen. James Lankford’s ad has stood out to me the most in which he says, “Let’s pray; let’s get to work doing the right thing the right way.”

Andres Perilla is an Oklahoma resident who has prayed and sought to do things the right way. In fact, his life-changing prayer transpired at Falls Creek Church Camp when he put his faith in Jesus Christ while a student in middle school.

Andres’ family brought him to the U.S. at the young age of 6 from Bogota, Colombia. He graduated from an Oklahoma high school with a 4.3 GPA only to learn that is where his American dream would come to a grinding halt because of the discovery that he wasn’t a citizen or even a legal immigrant.

A month after his graduation in 2012, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) was introduced as an administrative policy to provide narrow legal protects for people in America who had been brought in as undocumented children.

Andres immediately gathered records and applied for DACA status, which gave him the ability to enroll in college. Andres worked to pay his way through each semester, eventually transferring to the University of Oklahoma and earning a degree in engineering and later becoming a small business owner.

I look at the incredible quality traits of Andres and his fellow young Dreamers that continue to graduate from our education system, and I have to wonder if their success is a byproduct of immigration. Their focus, personal responsibility to care for their communities and families, and their sacrificial approach to success mirrors that of our nation’s forefathers who, too, were a direct result of immigration.

In November 2019, Andres joined me on a trip to Washington, D.C., to meet with the Oklahoma congressional delegation. Lankford told Andres face-to-face that he supported a pathway for permanent legal status for Dreamers, and we both returned home believing a prayer was on its way to being answered.

Yet nearly three years have since passed, and we are still waiting for the right thing to transpire.

With the U.S.-Mexico border in chaos, and a humane national security solution urgently needed, we must remember to include with it a permanent solution for our Dreamers like Andres. While DACA exists today, the 5th Circuit is hearing oral arguments on July 6 that could result in these protections being terminated, putting millions like Andres at risk of deportation to countries where they have no memories or connections.

According to a recent poll by the National Immigration Forum, 8 in 10 voters want common-sense solutions in 2022 that include border security, an opportunity to earn legal status and citizenship for undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children, as well as a legal, reliable workforce for America’s farmers and ranchers.

The right solution is right there within reach for Congress.

I believe God moves people for His glory, and I pray that Sen. Lankford will once again be a leader for bipartisan support for Dreamers even in the midst of midterm elections. Millions of invaluable lives in America depend on it.

Brenda Kirk lives in Tahlequah and is a regional mobilizer for the National Immigration Forum. 

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Guest column: Why protecting Dreamers is the right thing for Oklahoma