Families calling for more action on 9th anniversary of DACA

DACA was created by President Barack Obama by executive order in 2012.

While it allows undocumented young people to work as well as other benefits, it does not provide a permanent solution for legal residency in this country.

"Like dreamers, farmworkers are vulnerable to deportation," says Diana Tellefson with the UFW Foundation. "Families live in perpetual fear and yet, farmworkers have always been essential as the people who nourish this nation."

There are more than 600,000 active DACA recipients currently living in the United States and as many as 3.6 million Dreamers total, with about half of those DACA eligible.

Now, the UFW Foundation and the United Farm Workers are joining the sons and daughters of farmworkers in urging Senate Democrats to provide a pathway for citizenship.

"One way for congress to make sure farmworkers have a pathway to citizenship is by approving the Farm Workforce Modernization Act," Tellefson said.

It's a bi-partisan solution that has already passed the House.

Officials say the Farm Workforce Modernization Act would make a substantial difference in the everyday lives of countless farmworkers and their families.

"There is no more time, our communities are in urgent need of legalization and it has to be this year," says Leydy Rangel. "They have the tools to do it this year, so there are no excuses why there shouldn't be any action."