The Koch network is ramping up their push for Congress to fix DACA

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April 23, 2018 5:14 PM

A group of Koch-backed organizations are continuing to press congressional leaders to provide a permanent solution for the DACA program.

Koch-backed groups sent a letter to congressional leaders urging them to find a permanent solution for recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
The letter comes on the heels of a broader campaign to find a fix for DACA, including a seven-figure ad campaign.

WASHINGTON — A group of Koch-backed organizations are continuing to press congressional leaders to provide a permanent solution for the undocumented immigrants benefitting from the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, even as Congress has stalled in its attempts to reach a deal.

The LIBRE Initiative and Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce — both fueled by the wealthy Koch brothers — launched a seven-figure ad campaign last week. They continued their push on Monday by sending a letter to leaders on Capitol Hill.

In a letter to outgoing House Speaker Paul Ryan, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, the two groups wrote in an effort to urge them "to work collaboratively and across party lines to advance legislation that provides permanent protection for the Dreamers," the nickname for DACA recipients.

"There is a clear solution to the status of the Dreamers that all parties should be able to agree on, one that has bipartisan support and can be enacted promptly, and which provides certainty to the Dreamers and enhanced security to the nation," the letter added. "That is to pass legislation that provides a path to citizenship for 1.8 million Dreamers and provides $25 billion for enhanced border security measures."

The letter was signed by Freedom Partners Executive Vice President Nathan Nascimento and LIBRE Initiative President Daniel Garza.

The groups have regularly pushed for a bipartisan compromise that reflects some of the central pillars of President Donald Trump's plan, such as funding for border security and a wall along the US-Mexico border coupled with a pathway to citizenship for the 1.8 million DACA-eligible immigrants.

The Senate voted on a number of proposals in February, all of of which failed to pass. Months later in April, Trump declared that "

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