As Americans and as Tennesseans who have been advocating for comprehensive immigration reform for 13 years, we condemn the actions of the U.S. House of Representatives today to tie vital Department of Homeland Security Funding to amendments ending the President’s recent executive action providing temporary relief to undocumented immigrants and the very successful Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Despite widespread support for comprehensive immigration reform and the substance of the President’s administrative action as a temporary fix to a broken immigration system, the House of Representatives chooses to devote its time to actions that will stall national progress toward reasonable immigration policy, and could put the important national security efforts of the Department of Homeland Security at risk. Shame on Marsha Blackburn, one of our state’s own representatives, for pushing through an amendment that even members of her own party couldn’t support to defund the DACA program that has helped over 600,000 promising young people to pursue their dreams. We expect more of our representatives. Instead of continually working to stall progress, we challenge you to address the needs of the workers and their families who are already an integral part of our economy and our communities.