A Rio Grande Valley group is pushing to get a bill on the U.S. House floor that would create a pathway to citizenship for some Dreamers and people with temporary protected status.

A local recipient of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) says the uncertainty of her future in the U.S. never goes away.

"You hit the two-year gap for your renewal, and it's like everything goes down the road again," DACA recipient Karla Salaya said.

Salaya lives in Edinburg with her husband and four children. The 34-year-old is originally from Tabasco, Mexico.

Her parents brought her to the United States when she was 10 years old.

"We had no car when we arrived here, but we made it happen," Salaya said. "We worked really hard to be able to make a living here because, to me, this is our home."

Salaya became a DACA recipient in 2014. The program has given her protection from deportation and the ability to live and work in the United States as a nurse.

But she says the uncertainty never fully goes away.

"Anything can happen, anything. It's not something that it's promised for us and it's something that it's certain and that we are legally with the papers here. So it's hard. It's hard," Salaya said.

A Houston representative introduced the American Dream and Promise Act in 2025, which would create earned pathways to lawful permanent residence for eligible Dreamers and recipients of Temporary Protected Status (TPS). To force a vote for the bill on the House floor, a discharge petition needs the signatures of 218 U.S. representatives.

"We are just eight votes shy of that threshold," Estefania Reyna, a digital organizer for the immigrant rights group La Union Del Pueblo Entero, said. “Two Valley reps have already signed on — Representative Vicente Gonzalez and Representative Henry Cuellar. We just need one more vote, and that would be Representative Monica De La Cruz.”

All three Valley representatives are up for election this year. Gonzalez and Cuellar are Democrats. De La Cruz is a Republican.

La Union Del Pueblo, or LUPE, is working to get De La Cruz to sign the petition. Reyna said the organization ise hosting a postcard-making workshop this Saturday in Edinburg.

"Dreamers and youth, undocumented youth are able to write a postcard to Monica De La Cruz letting her know that this is an opportunity for her to do right by the people, and that is to provide a pathway to citizenship," Reyna said.

LUPE staff will deliver the postcards to the representative's office.

Salaya says the bill represents more than just her future.

"It will mean the future for my four children, who rely on me," Salaya said. "I call it my country, our country, because this is the only thing we know as home."

Getting the act on the House floor is just one challenge. It would still need to pass the House and Senate before it reaches President Trump's desk.

De La Cruz's office told Channel 5 News she is not a co-sponsor of the American Dream and Promise Act of 2025. Her office said she is a co-sponsor of the Dignity Act, which aims to secure the border, reform asylum, end illegal labor, and support border communities. Rep. Henry Cuellar is also a co-sponsor of the Dignity Act.

Read De La Cruz’s statement in full below: 

"The Congresswoman is not a co-sponsor of the American Dream and Promise Act of 2025. She is a proud co-sponsor the Dignity Act, a bipartisan legislative framework that aims to fix our broken immigration system through the new Dignity Program. The Dignity Act aims to protect American workers by ending illegal labor, securing the border, reforming our broken asylum system, and strengthening support for border communities."

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