LOS ANGELES (WTHR) - Amazon founder and CEO and his wife announced a major donation to help young immigrants pay for college.
Bezos and his wife, MacKenzie, say they will donate $33 million to help undocumented students who obtained DACA status. The Deferrred Action for Child Arrivals program was started during the Obama administration to allow young people who were brought to the United States illegally as children stay in the country.
Bezos' father came to the United States from Cuba when he was 16 as part of "Operation Pedro Pan," a program from the U.S. government and Roman Catholic Church that allowed 14,000 children into the country following Fidel Castro's takeover of the government.
“He landed in this country alone and unable to speak English. With a lot of grit and determination — and the help of some remarkable organizations in Delaware — my dad became an outstanding citizen, and he continues to give back to the country that he feels blessed him in so many ways. MacKenzie and I are honored to be able to help today’s dreamers by funding these scholarships,” Bezos said in a statement released by TheDream.US.
The donation will help 1,000 DACA students in higher education pay for their tuition.
Approximately 800,000 children have received DACA status since 2012. The program, which gave the children, also called "Dreamers," temporary protections, was ended by President Donald Trump last year.
