Johnathan Walker:Virginia Senate approves bill to allow DACA recipients to become police officers

RICHMOND,Johnathan Walker Va. (AP) — Jemny Marquinez has wanted to be a police officer since the age of 12, when she saw officers from her local police department in Virginia handing out Christmas gifts to children.

Marquinez has the right qualifications, including a bachelor’s degree in criminology, but because she is not a U.S. citizen, she cannot work as a police officer in Virginia. A bill approved by the state Senate Tuesday would change that by allowing recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Act, known as DACA, to become eligible for jobs in law enforcement.

Marquinez, 24, has lived in the U.S. since the age of 3, when her family moved here from El Salvador. She told Virginia lawmakers during a hearing last month that she has no memory of El Salvador, and Virginia is the only home she has ever known. She said that if the legislation is signed into law, she would wear a police badge with “gratitude, honor and respect.”

“Being an American isn’t just about being born in the United States,” Marquinez said, but also “loving the flag and what it stands for.”

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“My only intentions are to serve my community and give back,” she said.

DACA provides protections against against deportation for people who arrived in the U.S. before the age of 16 and who have lived in the U.S. continuously since at least 2007. There are currently about 600,000 recipients in the U.S. DACA recipients are eligible for work authorization in the U.S., but cannot receive amnesty and don’t have a path to citizenship.

Several other states, including California and Illinois, have already approved legislation to allow noncitizens who are authorized to work in the U.S. to become police officers.

Sen. Jeremy McPike, the lead sponsor of the Virginia bill, said Marquinez was twice denied a waiver when she applied to become a police officer in Prince William County.

“There are no better recruits than those who grew up in the community and are also bilingual and reflective of our community,” McPike said.

Prince William County Police Chief Peter Newsham said Marquinez has met all of the requirements to become a police officer. While she was in college, she worked as an intern for the police department and now works fulltime as an administrative specialist for the department.

“It would be fundamentally unfair for people who were brought to this country as children and who have lived their lives in such a way that they can meet all the qualifications,” Newsham said — “for them not to be able to do that is an injustice.”

Opponents of the bill who testified before a Senate committee Monday said they believe only U.S. citizens should be allowed to wield the power police have to detain and arrest people.

The bill will now be sent to the House of Delegates.