Tri-City Herald

Eastern Washington Congressman Dan Newhouse, R-Sunnyside, joined with Democrats to pass the Dream and Promise Act in the House of Representatives.

The House passed the bill 237-187, with seven Republicans supporting the legislation.

Newhouse has long advocated a solution for Dreamers, immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children.

“I voted today to provide legal status for the many young people who are our teachers, nurses, firefighters, and members of our military. They are our neighbors and our friends and they have never truly known a home outside of the United States,” he said in a news release.

Newhouse expressed reservations about the bill, saying it won’t gain enough votes in the Senate to address security and humanitarian concerns at the southern border.

“We need a bipartisan solution that has a chance of being signed into a law,” he said.

House Resolution 6, the Dream and Promise Act, provides legal status for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients as well as individuals with Temporary Protected Status and Deferred Enforced Departure.

More than 17,000 DACA recipients live in Washington. One third of those live in Newhouse’s Fourth Congressional District, including Benton, Franklin and Yakima counties and four others.

Newhouse represents more DACA recipients than any other Republican member of Congress, according to his office.