I’m urging the Missouri legislature to go House Bill 811, an important measure that might deal with workforce shortages and promote equality by making certain expert Deferred Motion for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients have equitable entry to skilled licensing.
This laws would allow these people to totally contribute to Missouri’s economic system and their communities. Rep. Reed issued the next assertion:
“Celebrating a neighborhood that has given a lot to our state—not simply within the work that’s achieved in our hospitals, in our school rooms, in our small companies, however within the tradition, the traditions, the tales, and most of all, the individuals who make Missouri stronger, richer, and higher.
What’s at all times impressed me concerning the Hispanic neighborhood is its unbelievable variety—so many cultures, so many backgrounds, so many journeys which have led folks right here, every with their very own struggles and triumphs, however all sharing that very same deep perception in household, in religion, in service, in arduous work, in the concept when you do your half, you must have the chance to succeed. That’s what makes this nation nice. That’s what’s at all times made America a land of chance.
Now, as we speak, we stand at a crossroads. We will select to simply accept issues as they’re, or we will select to form them as they need to be. We will proceed down the identical path of outdated insurance policies that stifle progress, or we will embrace a forward-thinking strategy that displays who we’re as we speak and who we aspire to be tomorrow.
That’s why I’m proud to be main the struggle for a easy however highly effective concept: In case you develop up right here, when you work arduous, when you’re able to contribute, Missouri ought to allow you to. We shouldn’t be holding again younger folks—DACA recipients—who wish to serve their communities as nurses, academics, and expert professionals. We must be doing every little thing we will to empower them, to acknowledge them for what they’re: People in each manner however on paper.
As a result of right here’s the factor—legal guidelines ought to replicate our values. They need to replicate our aspirations, not simply our historical past. And proper now, too lots of our legal guidelines are caught previously. However that’s a alternative. We don’t should hold clinging to outdated attitudes that not serve us. We don’t have to simply accept insurance policies that divide us after we could possibly be selecting insurance policies that deliver us collectively.
So, I’m calling on my colleagues within the legislature—Democrats and Republicans—to step up. To do what’s proper. To embrace the longer term, not worry it. To acknowledge that after we put money into folks, after we open doorways as a substitute of closing them, after we select progress over stagnation, all of us profit. Move Home invoice 811.
That’s the sort of Missouri I imagine in. That’s the sort of America I imagine in. And if we stand collectively, if we hold pushing ahead, that’s the sort of future we are going to construct.”
HB 811 represents an important step towards a extra inclusive and economically aggressive Missouri. By permitting DACA recipients to acquire skilled licenses, the state can deal with workforce shortages in vital sectors whereas affirming its dedication to alternative and equity.
State Rep. Ray Reed serves Missouri’s 83rd Home District, which incorporates communities in Brentwood, Maplewood, Richmond Heights, Shrewsbury, and parts of Affton.
