Council Votes to Support DACA, TPS Extensions

By Joseph Domelowicz Jr.

The Everett City Council on Monday night finally took action to show its support for legislation that will end immigration uncertainty around legal immigrants who have Temporary Protected Status (TPS) or Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status.

By a vote of 8-1 of the councilors present, the City Council agreed to support a resolution asking the federal government to extend TPS and create new legislation to clear up the status of those here on DACA, often called “Dreamers.”

City Councilor Stephen Simonelli voted against the resolution, offering a short statement before the vote that read, “We have to take care of our own first,” and said that he’d like to see “Everett keep Everett people first.”

The other eight councilors present all offered statements signaling their support of the resolution, with Councilor John Hanlon noting that ultimately, the groups of immigrants affected by these immigration designations would have to seek longer term solutions that allow the immigrants a path toward U.S. citizenship in order to have real security, rather than simply extending the temporary TPS and DACA programs.

In voicing their support for the resolution, the councilors spoke of their support for the hard working men and women, families in Everett who are impacted by the immigration debate.

“In talking to the men and women in this city who are affected by these programs, you can see the fear in their eyes and on their faces and that fear is there because of the rhetoric that comes out of the White House,” said Councilor Peter Napolitano.

“I am supporting this resolution, but what we are really doing is sending a message to Washington (D.C.) to tell them to do their jobs,” added Councilor Rosa DiFlorio.