The American Civil Liberties Union on Monday said Democrats who voted in favor of a short-term government funding bill without restoring protections for undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children “betrayed our American values and allowed bigotry and fear to prevail.”
“Enough is enough. We cannot rely on empty promises from those who have already proven to play politics with the lives of Dreamers,” Lorella Praeli, the ACLU’s director of immigration policy and campaigns, said in a statement, referring to immigrants protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
Praeli said that “too many Democrats” voted with Republicans to reopen the government.
“But too many lives are on the line and too much is at stake to give up on this fight,” she said. “Let it be known — we will be watching, and will make sure voters this November know if their representatives stood for Dreamers or for their deportations.”
