As the son and grandson of immigrants, Derek believes that America’s diversity is one of its greatest strengths. He’s been an advocate for fixing our broken immigration system. He believes we can keep our country safe and ensure that America lives up to its values.
Derek supports comprehensive immigration reform legislation. For example, Derek sponsored the USA Act, a bipartisan bill to make smarter, more strategic investments in border security, to provide a pathway to citizenship for DREAMERS, and to address some of the root causes of migration to America’s southern border.
Derek has sponsored legislation to prevent immigrant and refugee families from being separated from their children and to ensure that they are treated with dignity. When he visited the Northwest Detention Center, a for-profit immigration facility in Tacoma, Derek met with 22 of the women held there who had been separated from their children. He was sickened to hear firsthand about the inhumane and immoral treatment they received. Derek doesn’t believe there should be a profit-motive involved in detaining immigrants and has sponsored legislation to end for-profit detention centers.
Derek is a sponsor of the DREAM and Promise Act, legislation to ensure that young people who were brought to America through no choice of their own and who are Americans in every way except on paper don’t face the persistent threat of deportation.