The right to protect and serve as members of Virginia law enforcement will be extended to illegal immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children by their parents, according to a recently passed state bill.
SB 69 waives the citizenship requirement for law enforcement officers and allows individuals who have been granted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status to serve as police officers.
DACA was passed under former President Barack Obama and allows people between the ages of 15 and 41 who were brought or came to the U.S. illegally before 2007 and before the age of 16 to stay, without granting them citizenship.
SB 69 narrowly passed the Virginia House of Delegates on Wednesday in a 53-47 vote after passing in the state Senate last month.
State Sen. Jeremy McPike, a Democrat, was one of the bill’s sponsors and shared stories from his district of young people, covered by DACA, who grew up wanting to work in law enforcement, according to the Washington Examiner. One young woman’s dream of being a member of the police force reportedly grew out of seeing an officer hand out toys at her elementary school.
“From that point, she pursued and gained a higher education degree in criminal justice, only to get to the point where she has passed criminal background checks and is moving through the process and applied through waivers to become a police officer, only to be denied her dream,” McPike said, according to the Examiner.
Click to read the full story at Newsmax.
