Immigrant youth without permanent legal status would get a shot at paid work in Congress under a bill scheduled to be introduced Wednesday, April 3.

Sen. Kamala Harris, D-California, and two other senators are introducing the “American Dream Employment Act,” which would amend current law to allow DACA recipients paid internships and other employment in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.

Current law allows paid employment in Congress to people who are citizens, or lawful permanent residents who are on their way to becoming citizens. That bars people who have a temporary work permit under DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a controversial program created by President Obama and at risk of being dismantled under the Trump administration.

DACA holders are younger immigrants brought to the country illegally as children who have two-year renewable deferments from deportation. The DACA status comes with a social security number and a work permit but no direct path to citizenship.

“The giant sign outside my office says ‘DREAMers Welcome Here’ because we know and value the contributions that these young people have made to their communities. But right now, those same young people are banned from giving back to their country by working for Congress. That has to change,” Harris said in a news release.

“Government works best when it reflects the people it represents. Our nation’s DREAMers are some of our best and brightest, and it’s time they had the opportunity to get a job or paid internship on Capitol Hill,” said Harris, the former California attorney general and a Democratic presidential candidate.

(DACA holders and other younger immigrants are called “Dreamers” based on a proposed federal law called the Dream Act that was never passed.)

The proposed bill from Senators Harris, Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nevada, and Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, is similar to one introduced by Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, D-Arizona, in the House, where it has 57 co-sponsors. Co-sponsors of Kirkpatrick’s bill include Rep. Luis Correa, D-Santa Ana, and Rep. Gil Cisneros, D-Yorba Linda.

The legislation is supported by various pro-immigrant rights organizations, including United We Dream, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA) and the Los Angeles-based National Immigration Law Center.

As Harris kicks off her presidential campaign and immigration continues to loom on the political battlefield, the proposed bill is not welcomed by conservative voters who want to focus on American youth, not people who arrived in the country illegally.

“How is this legislation fair to U.S. citizen students? Why does Senator Kamala Harris not have a sign outside of her door that welcomes American Citizen Dreamers?” asked Robin Hvidston, who heads an anti-illegal immigration group called We the People Rising, based in Claremont but with members throughout Southern California.

“There are U.S. students all across the nation who are eager for internships and other employment in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, but Senator Kamala Harris’ so called ‘American Dream Employment Act’ could potentially take the ‘American Dream from an American citizen student – a student who could be replaced by a DACA recipient under this proposed legislation.”