Pending Trump DACA decision worries Oregon immigrants – Lauren E Hernandez, Statesman Journal

As we approach the September 5th deadline imposed on the White House by GOP Attorneys General seeking to end the DACA program, read about DACAs effects here at home, where over 11,000 recipients contribute more than $600 million to the economy. Yet this isn’t a purely economic argument, it is a moral one.

Over the past week, we’ve seen images of Houstonians working together in the face of terrible adversity. Houston has become the most ethnically diverse city in the United States. A Houstonian’s commitment to their neighbor, their city or their country isn’t altered by the language they speak or the country they were born in. So, when Jim Ludwick, communications director for the anti-immigrant OFIR (Oregonians for Immigration Reform) says “If you bring in so many people forming their own communities, it’s difficult for people to become American…Assimilation is where you learn English, where you are proud to be an American, and your loyalty is to the United States,” he impugns and insults the patriotism of Oregonians. Together with his organization, Reps. Esquivel, Barreto, and Nearman are advancing legislation that would impose draconian measures on our own citizens, and tear Oregonian families apart.