Gov. Evers Signs Bipartisan Bill to Help Address Statewide Workforce Shortages by Removing Barriers for Dreamers
MILWAUKEE — Gov. Tony Evers today joined local advocates and stakeholders at Nuevo Mercado El Rey in Milwaukee to take action on Assembly Bill 759, now 2025 Wisconsin Act 240, a bipartisan bill that helps address Wisconsin’s generational workforce challenges by removing unnecessary barriers to employment for “Dreamers,” recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, who are already living and working in Wisconsin. As signed by the governor today, Act 240 allows workers who are Dreamers to obtain credentials for certain occupations if they satisfy all applicable credentialing requirements. The governor’s action aims to provide a boost to the state’s workforce, especially in high-need industries and professions. Dreamers will be able to join several key areas of Wisconsin’s workforce that have a demonstrated need for future workers, including registered nurses, dentists, teachers, emergency medical technicians, and trade workers, among others.
“Since 2012, DACA has provided individuals who came here as kids and call our country home the opportunity to apply for and obtain legal work status, ensuring folks can work and support themselves and their families. But here in Wisconsin—whether it’s restrictions on obtaining a driver’s license to operate a vehicle or certain work-related credentials—unnecessary barriers are holding hard-working people, as well as our workforce, economy, and communities, back,” said Gov. Evers. “Immigrants play a critical role in our economy and our communities in every corner of our state—and they have for generations. In Wisconsin, we’ve always believed that if you work hard, obey the law, pay taxes, and play by the rules just like everyone else, you should have a fair shot at pursuing the American Dream, including having the opportunity to join our professional workforce. Today, we’re not only doing the right thing for Dreamers to help make sure they can pursue their higher education and career goals to give back to the communities that raised them, but we’re doing the right thing for our state and our economy, too, by making sure smart, talented, and capable people can join our workforce in high-need areas.”
Under Act 240, workers will still be required to have a valid, unexpired employment authorization document issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. So long as the worker’s federal work authorization is renewed, their credentials may be renewed. According to the Migration Policy Institute, as of September 2025, there were over 505,000 active DACA recipients from close to 200 different countries of birth residing all over the U.S., including over 5,100 in Wisconsin.
Gov. Evers has made building a 21st-century workforce to support a 21st-century economy and addressing the state’s long-standing workforce challenges a top priority of his administration. Thanks to these efforts over the last seven years, the state has seen record-low unemployment, record-high employment, and record enrollment in both the state’s registered and youth apprenticeship programs. Further, annual average wages have also gone up for workers, increasing nearly 26 percent over the governor’s first six years in office, and median wages in 2024 reached an all-time record high.
Assembly Bill 759, now 2025 Wisconsin Act 240:
- Permits individuals granted deferred action for the first time under the federal DACA program to obtain credentials to practice occupations overseen by the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services in this state if all of the following apply:
- They have current and unexpired deferred action; and
- They possess a valid, unexpired employment authorization document issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
- Any credential issued under the bill, as amended, would be valid only for the duration of the individual’s employment authorization issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and would not be applicable to individuals granted deferred action for the first time after the effective date of this bill.
- Credentials may be renewed so long as the individual’s federal work authorization is renewed.
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.
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