A short-term federal budget is set to expire at midnight on Thursday, and there could be another government shutdown. Some lawmakers in D.C. refused to support the budget bill if protections for young people who were brought to the U.S. as children were not included. Here in Albuquerque, college professors, Dreamers and allies gathered outside the Downtown offices for Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich to demand that they fight for a Dream Act in Congress.
About 50 people, many of them educators, marched in the intersection holding signs that read “Don’t Deport Our Students” and “Congress Must Act Now!” Vehicles pulled up and then turned around, except for one. The driver laid on his horn and nosed his big black truck into the demonstrators, pushing them forward several times before police arrived. The protest continued on the sidewalk.
Republicans are divided on protections for Dreamers, and President Trump’s stance has been inconsistent. Sen. Udall’s spokesperson said in an email that the Senate will begin debating legislation to protect Dreamers next week. Neither he nor Heinrich would say whether they would vote for a budget bill without those protections.
