America is a nation of immigrants. In order to succeed as a country we must have a predictable, fair, immigration system. 

Congressman Connolly is a vocal advocate for DREAMers, young people who came to this country by parents seeking to shelter them from the poverty, violence, or persecution that they faced in their native countries. They are as American as any of us. The Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program gave these young people the freedom to come out of the shadows and live a life without fear of deportation. He opposed the Trump administration’s attempt to end DACA and has joined in multiple bipartisan efforts to enshrine it into permanent law. 

He also staunchly opposed limits on refugees imposed by the Trump administration and publicly pressured President Biden to reverse those limits. Additionally, he introduced the Lady Liberty Act to institute a minimum of at least 125,000 refugees to be admitted to the country annually. 

When the Afghan government collapsed to the Taliban, he joined the community in welcoming the fleeing refugees to Northern Virginia with open arms, and his office worked with public and private groups to coordinate the departure and asylum applications for more than 23,000 Afghans. As the grandchild of immigrants, Congressman Connolly knows that those who come to the United States pursuing the American Dream are not so different from us and deserve a fair chance, and he believes that the more than 11 million undocumented people who already live and pay taxes here deserve a path to citizenship. 

He believes we must reform the asylum seeking process to prevent bad actors from abusing it while providing the necessary protections to those with legitimate asylum claims. He also supports expanding H1-B visas so high-skilled foreign workers can come to the United States and believes foreign students who graduate from American universities should be allowed to stay and work here, not be sent home.