Biden meets with dreamers in the White House to push his immigration reform, stuck in Congress

Six beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, met this Friday at the White House with President Joe Biden, in a meeting with which the Democratic Administration sought to illustrate its willingness to promote reform Congress that also offers a path to citizenship for the nearly 600,000 Dreamers who study and work in the United States. 

This is the second time the Oval Office has hosted DACA recipients.

The first such meeting occurred in February 2015, with then-President Barack Obama.

The meeting took place behind closed doors.

The White House said after the meeting that President Biden had met "with six DACA recipients who work in healthcare, education and agriculture to discuss their experiences on the front lines of fighting the coronavirus pandemic." .

"President Biden reiterated his support for Dreamers, TPS (Temporary Protected Status) holders, agricultural workers and other essential immigrant workers," the statement added. 

In his address to a joint session of Congress last month, Biden called on lawmakers to "

end our grueling war on immigration

.

"

While pushing his plan to extend citizenship to more than 11 million undocumented immigrants, he also said Congress could act to ensure the protection of Dreamers.

Biden also

met with DACA recipients

on a recent trip to Georgia.

A dreamer was also one of the guests of the first lady, Jill Biden, in the president's speech last month.

This Friday's meeting underscores the Administration's argument to accelerate immigration relief for dreamers, TPS recipients and farm workers.

"This is an opportunity to send that message that this is a priority for us," a White House official told NBC News, the sister network of Noticias Telemundo, about Friday's meeting at the White House. 

DACA was implemented by Obama through executive action in 2012, providing limited protections to some immigrants who were brought to the United States illegally as children.

As a candidate, Biden promised to protect them and their families by reinstating the program.

[A group of dreamers demands the Biden Government to expedite the permits to travel outside the country they request]

In March, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said his agency would issue a rule to "preserve and strengthen DACA," but the policy faces a judicial challenge in a Texas court that could invalidate the protections established during the Obama's presidency.

Former President Donald Trump tried to suspend the program.

The country's Supreme Court ruled last year that Trump could remove him, but that he did so improperly.

DACA in the Biden Era: What Should Congress Do for Dreamers to Achieve Their Dream?

Jan. 21, 202 104: 38

Biden has called for passage of immigration reform that is focused on establishing a naturalization mechanism for 11 million migrants living in the United States irregularly, a plan that faces an uphill road in a narrowly divided Congress.

But he has made clear that passing a bill enshrining DACA, which enjoys broad bipartisan support among the American public, should be the starting point for action on immigration.

"If they don't like my plan, let's at least pass what we all agree on," Biden said in a speech to a joint session of Congress last month.

“Congress needs to pass a proposal this year to finally ensure the protection of Dreamers;

the young people whose only home they have ever known is the United States ”.

These were the six dreamers who participated in the meeting with President Biden: 

María Praeli, who

came to the United States from Peru at age 5 when her sister sought medical treatment after a car accident, and now works for FWD.us, an immigration advocacy group.

Astou Thiane

, who was born in Senegal and raised in New York.

She joined the Teach for America organization and advocates for the education of undocumented students.

This organization assists DACA recipients in renewing their applications.

March 3, 202101: 58

Esmeralda Tovar-Mora, who

was only 18 months old when she came to Kansas from Mexico and is now studying nursing.

She married a member of the National Guard and is raising a 3-year-old daughter, a US citizen. 

Leydy Rangel

, who now works for the

Farm

Workers Union and is the daughter of migrant workers in California.

[Biden will allow undocumented college students to access emergency aid due to the COVID-19 pandemic]

Jirayut Latthivongskorn

, who came to the United States from Thailand at age 9, was one of the plaintiffs in the California case against the Donald Trump Administration that led the Supreme Court to uphold DACA protections.

And

Karen Reyes

, who came from Mexico with her mother when she was 2 years old, is now a deaf education specialist who works with kindergarten children.

With information from NBC News and The Associated Press