The Illinois Business Immigration Coalition (IBIC) is deeply disappointed in President Trump’s decision to repeal DACA. The DACA program has allowed nearly 800,000 young immigrants brought here as children to attend school, pay taxes, and work in major companies in every industry in the United States. Illinois is home to nearly 42,400 DACA recipients – over 36,000 of whom are in our workforce. Ending DACA would result in approximately $2.3 billion in lost GDP over the next decade. IBIC calls on Congress to quickly pass the bipartisan DREAM Act or similar legislative solution to enable 800,000 people to continue to work, go to school, and pay taxes, and to ensure that American companies do not lose some of their most talented employees.

“We are deeply concerned about President Trump’s decision to revoke the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA), states IBIC Co-chair and Exelon Corporation Chairman Emeritus John Rowe. “The only just and proper response is for Congress to pass the Dream Act or similar legislation. Many businesses depend upon these workers at the high and low skilled ends. Many of us have invested heavily in the education of these young people. All of our members are deeply concerned about the moral impact of destroying these young lives. Both the soul and the future of the Republican party rest upon finding better solutions to immigration.”

“DePaul University was founded in 1898 to serve Chicago’s large and growing immigrant population. This group had very limited access to higher education. Those men and women built Chicago into the great city it is today,” states DePaul University President Dr. A. Gabriel Esteban. “DePaul continues to provide a world-class education to all of our students, including new immigrants. Dream students are as much a part of Chicago as any students, and they deserve a chance to fully contribute to our culture and economy. I urge you to find a permanent solution that helps these students realize the American Dream.”

“DACA has changed my life forever,” said Carlos Roa, “I am currently on track towards finishing my architecture license-ship and becoming a construction project manager working on skyscrapers.” A study from the CATO Institute found that removing DACA recipients from our workforce in a single day would cost $200 billion in lost GDP and $60 billion in lost tax revenue over a decade, and would disrupt multibillion dollar industries like healthcare, technology, and finance.