A RESOLUTION affirming The City of Seattle’s commitment to fostering a welcoming community that protects all its residents and declaring its support for providing permanent protection and a path to citizenship for immigrant youth and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) recipients for whom the United States is home.
Please read the next agenda item. New agenda item two Resolution 31893. Affirming the city's commitment to fostering a welcoming community to protect all its residents and declaring its support for providing permanent protection and a path to citizenship for immigrants. Youth and Temporary Protected Status and deferred enforcement departure recipients for whom the United States is home concerning GONZALES. Thank you. This resolution is in support of legislation introduced in Congress that will create a legal pathway for Dreamers, as well as individuals who are currently eligible for Temporary Protected Status and deferred and Deferred Enforced Departure. The American Dream and Promise Act of 2019 or H.R. six would put 2.5 million Dreamers and immigrants eligible for Temporary Protected Status or deferred enforced departure on a pathway to citizenship. Individuals who are eligible for protection under this bill have typically lived in the United States for much of their lives. The average dreamer came to the United States at the age of eight, while the average TPS or dead eligible person arrived as early as 1997. This is an issue with bipartisan support at the federal level and one that will transform the lives of millions. It will also be life changing for their families, and it will go far in helping to strengthen our communities when Dreamers and others can go from second class citizens to fulfilling to fully becoming an American. According to the Center for American Progress, who put out a fact sheet on the American Dream and Promise Act of 2019 and its impact in Washington State in particular, there's a few data points that are highlighted by CAP. The first is that Washington is home to 52,200 immigrants who are eligible for protection under the Dream and Promise Act. These individuals live with 121,200 family members. Among those family members, 23,500 are U.S. born citizen children. Dreamers in Washington State who are eligible for protection under the bill arrived in the United States at the average age of eight years old. TPS and the eligible immigrants in Washington who would be eligible for protection under the American Dream and promise out to 2018 have on average lived in the United States since 1996. And when we look at the largest eligible communities under the American Dream and Promise Act in terms of our own numbers here in Washington State, Seattle has the fourth largest population of eligible communities across the state. And so we come in at about 4300 people right here in Seattle that would be eligible to find a pathway to citizenship if the if Congress adopts the Dream and Promise Act of 2019. So, again, I feel this is very much aligned with what our constituents expect from us and look forward to having the support of my colleagues. Thank you, Councilman Gonzalez. Any other comments or questions before we vote on the proposed resolution? If not those in favor of adopting the resolution, please vote i. I those polls vote no. The more she cares resolution, todd than cheryl. Sign it. Thank you, Councilman Gonzales, for this. Thank you. Please read the next agenda item.