Biden meets with 'Dreamers' in the White House to push pathway to citizenship

Biden gathered a group of DREAMers at the White House Friday for a discussion on the future of the DACA program.

President Joe Biden gathered a group of "Dreamers" at the White House on Friday for a discussion about the importance of the DACA program, which provides deportation relief to young people brought into the country as children. The group of six "Dreamers," a reference to the DREAM Act proposals in Congress that would offer DACA recipients a pathway to citizenship, met with Biden for about 45 minutes. Each engaged on a personal level with the president, according to those in attendance. The latest iteration of an attempt to get "Dreamers" legal status was introduced by Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, D-Calif., as the American Dream and Promise Act of 2021. The bill would give an estimated 2.3 million "Dreamers" the ability to stay in the U.S. legally. The meeting underscored Biden's efforts to prioritize more permanent forms of relief for "Dreamers," including a pathway to citizenship for those already in the country. It comes as the fate of the DACA program rests, in part, with a federal judge overseeing a lawsuit that argues DACA is unconstitutional.