The Human Rights Campaign joined Dreamers from across the nation on Capitol Hill to demand that Congress pass a clean DREAM Act and protect thousands of dreamers and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients.

“Thousands of lives are already at risk and if Congress fails to act, many more dreamers — including more than 75,000 LGBTQ dreamers — will also be forced to face the real and dangerous threat of deportation,” said Alejandro Avilés, HRC’s Director of Outreach and Engagement. “It is unacceptable to use these young people as political pawns and Congress must act this year to pass a clean DREAM Act and address this problem created by the Trump-Pence administration. Today and everyday, HRC is proud to join forces with United We Dream, Center for Community Change, SEIU and many others to stand with all Dreamers and calls on Congress to pass a clean DREAM Act.”

HRC President Chad Griffin said: “HRC continues to stand with more than 800,000 of our neighbors, friends, and family members whose livelihoods are being threatened by the Trump-Pence administration’s open assault on Dreamers and immigrants. In this country, we share a belief that a person’s circumstances at birth, or where their life takes them as a child, shouldn’t determine their ability to pursue the American dream. We urge Congress to protect these innocent Dreamers from the Trump-Pence administration’s heartless and cruel attacks.”

This year, the Trump-Pence administration announced the cruel decision to end DACA and created an arbitrary deadline for Congress to impose a legislative fix. The announcement is ending a five-year-old program that has allowed hundreds of thousands of young people who were brought to the U.S. as minors to stay in the only country they’ve ever known. Every day, more and more dreamers are having their DACA status expire.

This week, HRC joined with 127 LGBTQ and allied organizations in a letter calling on Congress to pass a clean Dream Act before the end of the year. The organizations made clear that Dreamers are a part of the American family and help make our communities vibrant.

Over 75,000 Dreamers identify as LGBTQ and over 36,000 of them have benefited from DACA. For these young people, the threat of deportation can hold an additional element of uncertainty, since they may be sent to countries with poor LGBTQ human rights records. For example, in El Salvador, transgender women have faced such a tremendous upsurge in violence that the United Nations called for an investigation into the situation.