By Andrew Rice
The Center Square

A bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers has introduced legislation designed to prevent more than 250,000 people brought to the United States as children, or “Dreamers,” from being deported.

The America’s CHILDREN Act of 2025 aims to permanently protect children of long-term visa holders from “aging out” of the system when they turn 21.

The legislation also seeks to provide a permanent resident status for participants who have maintained legal status for 10 years and graduated from a U.S. college or university.

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program was established in 2012 by the Obama administration for children who were younger than 16 years old when they entered the United States.

The program allowed people brought into the United States as children to live and work on two year renewable terms.

A press release on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s website said children are aging out of the program due to green card approval backlogs.

While the Trump administration’s efforts to ramp up deportations increase, some immigration advocacy groups have raised concerns about DACA recipients being targeted.

“As the Trump Administration makes legal immigration all but impossible, this bill would help them stay in the only home they have ever known,” said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., a cosponsor of the bill.

Durbin joined a coalition of nine other senators introducing the bill, including Sens. Alex Padilla, D-Calif, Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Susan Collins, R-Maine.

“The America’s Children Act provides targeted relief for these children of merit-based immigrants who are at risk of ‘aging out’ of their lawful immigration status, and I’m pleased to join Sen. Padilla in introducing this bill,” Paul said.

In the U.S. House of Representatives, Reps. Deborah Ross, D-N.C., and Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, cosponsored the legislation.

“Documented Dreamers are members of our communities – they study at our schools, learn alongside our children, and attend our houses of worship in North Carolina and nationwide,” Ross said. “Despite these deep ties, many of them are at risk of deportation from the country they love and call home. It’s time to finally fix our broken immigration system and give these inspiring young people a chance to pursue their dreams and give back to their communities.”

Durbin initially sponsored the DREAM Act in 2001 with former Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, as a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who grew up in the United States.

In 2010, the act passed the House of Representatives but failed to pass in the Senate. In 2013, legislation that included parts of the Dream Act passed in the Senate but was not considered in the House of Representatives.

Padilla most recently introduced the America’s Children Act, which includes large portions of the Dream Act’s protections, in 2023.