By Melissa M. López and Dylan Corbett
Across El Paso, our state and the nation, Dreamers have long been woven into the civic fabric. They lead classrooms, staff clinics, volunteer at shelters and anchor family networks. Their presence shapes congregations, schoolhouses and local businesses; it gives continuity to everyday civic life – coaching soccer, attending parent‑teacher conferences, and serving in faith communities.
That daily belonging matters in ways monetary measures cannot fully capture.
And yet, on this 14th anniversary of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, many Dreamers are losing permission to work because application processing at the Department of Homeland Security has slowed to an unprecedented pace, creating disruption for employers and communities nationwide.
What once averaged a two‑month renewal has stretched to six months or longer, leaving longstanding community residents in limbo and, in many cases, out of legal status.
The current uncertainty around DACA is, first and foremost, a community concern. Delayed renewals and weakened protections leave families fearful, children unsettled, and households unable to plan. The cumulative social toll shows up as frayed trust, interrupted health care for our parents and grandparents, and pressure on the institutions — churches, schools and small businesses — that sustain community stability.
Practical pressures follow. El Paso is already experiencing population decline due in part to restrictive border policies and persistently low wages. The unnecessary obstacles Dreamers face only compound these strains by thinning the available workforce and depressing taxable income, undermining the revenue streams that support our schools, public safety and health services.
Our shared El Paso civic and faith traditions call for a measured, humane stewardship that treats families with dignity. At the same time, community life requires predictability: durable status for people already rooted in our neighborhoods will strengthen the local talent our institutions and workforce need to thrive.
Addressing DACA is illustrative of a larger imperative. In our community, we know far too well the reality of family separation, systemic abuse in immigrant detention and the closure of the border to asylum seekers. For too long, immigration policy has been driven by an enforcement-first approach designed to exclude rather than to integrate.
A permanent legislative solution for Dreamers would protect families and institutions while demonstrating an alternative approach — one that centers human dignity, acknowledges migrants’ contributions, and restores public confidence through transparent and safe measures to manage migration sensibly.
Practical protections are achievable: clearly defined eligibility criteria for new Americans, thorough background checks, periodic reviews, and policies that encourage work, tax compliance and civic integration. These safeguards uphold the rule of law while minimizing disruption to schools, hospitals and small businesses that depend on continuity.
The truth is, Dreamers have already met and exceeded these standards. Now they deserve certainty.
Our local faith congregations and parishes, community organizations and civic groups have long played a vital role in sustaining El Paso’s values of welcome and belonging. Honoring newcomers and those pursuing the American dream renews communal bonds, deepens mutual trust, and affirms the character of places like El Paso that measure themselves by how they treat their neighbors. Policies that preserve family stability and facilitate integration are both humane and pragmatic.
Congress must work now to ensure efficient adjudication of DACA renewals and provide permanent protections for Dreamers. Assisting these long‑standing residents, who are assets to our community, will preserve human capital, support our local economy, and reaffirm the El Paso values that define healthy civic life.
As community leaders, we see these outcomes every day. Providing certainty for Dreamers is both a moral imperative and a practical investment in communal wellbeing — and it should be the starting point for a broader, humane overhaul of an immigration system that must do better by people, our border communities and the nation alike.
Melissa M. López is the executive director of Estrella del Paso and Dylan Corbett is the executive director of the Hope Border Institute.
The post Opinion: Certainty for Dreamers strengthens us all appeared first on El Paso Matters.
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