Bob Menendez

Opinion contributor

Imagine telling a respiratory therapist, a nurse, a factory worker making ventilators or a grocery store clerk that America no longer needs their help fighting COVID-19. Unbelievably, that is exactly what the United States is about to do if the Supreme Court upholds President Donald Trump’s cruel and heartless decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

Created in 2012, DACA is the commonsense program that allowed young undocumented immigrants who were brought to this country as children to come forward, pass criminal background checks, secure renewable work permits and gain protection from deportation. In turn, the government asked these young and courageous Dreamers for their trust and faith. More than 700,000 Dreamers — including almost 17,000 in my state of New Jersey — came out of the shadows and voluntarily handed over personal information about themselves and their families to the very same authorities they had been forced to hide from for most of their lives.

Dreamers are helping COVID patients

As New Jersey battles the second highest number of COVID-19 cases in the nation, Dreamers like Daysi from Monmouth County are rising to the challenge. As she works toward finishing her nursing degree, she’s already doing lifesaving work as a patient care technician at a New Jersey hospital. The fact that Daysi is a Dreamer, brought to the United States from Central America at just 9 years old, is no matter to the patients who depend on her. What matters is that she comes to work on the front lines of this pandemic each and every day.

Hotline:Share your coronavirus story

Like Daysi, many Dreamers have built careers serving others, from teaching in our schools to serving in our military to practicing nursing and medicine. Today, over 200,000 of them are on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic, including 29,000 directly working in our health care system. Like so many Americans, they are risking their lives every day in hospitals overloaded by patients with coronavirus, working double shifts caring for the sick, comforting the dying, and all too frequently doing it without the personal protective gear they need to protect themselves and their families from the virus.

Regardless of their place of birth, these individuals undoubtedly represent the best of America. As our nation continues to be inspired by the selfless service of those on the front lines during this pandemic, we must recognize the humanity of our Dreamers, admire their work and vow to do right by them.

President Trump unilaterally decided to end DACA in 2017, but renewal applications continue as a result of court orders in three legal challenges. The Supreme Court consolidated the three cases last year and heard oral arguments in November. Any day now, the justices will decide whether the administration acted lawfully when it terminated the DACA program.

Meanwhile, despite their sacrifices, Dreamers like Daysi are being asked to serve our nation while living with the crippling fear of being forcibly deported to a country they barely remember.

For Dreamers and their families, which often include thousands of American spouses and approximately 254,000 U.S.-born children, the prospect of being forced out of the only country they have ever called home is devastating in itself. To rip these Dreamers out of the workforce and tear these families apart in the midst of a harrowing global pandemic and brutal economic downturn would not only be heartless and un-American, it’s asinine.

Extend DACA work authorizations

During this national emergency, we need more help from health professionals like Daysi— not less. For our federal government to suddenly begin deporting thousands of EMTs, doctors, nurses and hospital staff at this moment would be catastrophic.

Now is the time to shore up America’s fight against this pandemic, to save lives, and to do everything possible to keep struggling families afloat in this unprecedented economic downturn. That means embracing the courage, sacrifice and ingenuity of America’s Dreamers, who want only to continue serving their communities and contributing to this country during a historic crisis.

Stop the spread:To slow pandemic, Trump should release nonviolent immigrants from detention centers

We must be united in this fight, not divided. Human lives depend on it. This is why I joined a group of colleagues this week in calling on President Trump to automatically extend work authorizations of all DACA recipients immediately. I also urge the Senate Republican majority to join Democrats and pass the American Dream and Promise Act of 2019 without delay. The urgency of this moment demands it.

President Trump ended DACA because he refused to accept the value of Dreamers to our communities. At a time when thousands of Americans are dying and millions more are suffering in this economy, we cannot afford more self-inflicted wounds that hinder our national response to this pandemic.

Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., is the highest-ranking Latino in Congress and a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Follow him on Twitter: @SenatorMenendez