WASHINGTON — Three dozen Republican lawmakers on Tuesday called on party leaders to help enact a permanent solution for ‘‘dreamers’’ by the end of the year, saying the issue has festered for too long, creating legal and economic uncertainty for young immigrants and the companies that employ them.

The 35 members of the House GOP caucus — 34 representatives and Puerto Rico’s nonvoting member — represent the largest bloc of Republicans to date to publicly voice support for a solution to one of the most emotionally charged elements of the years-long fight over immigration policy.

‘‘They are American in every way except their immigration status,’’ the group wrote.

Nearly 700,000 dreamers — the children of undocumented immigrants — are protected by Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, an Obama-era program that President Trump is ending March 5.

He has given Congress until then to enact a permanent solution, or thousands of dreamers could begin facing deportation on a daily basis.

The letter released Tuesday is cosigned by Republicans hailing from districts encompassing immigrant-rich Miami, suburban Philadelphia, New York’s Hudson Valley, and rural Illinois.

They include senior members of the House GOP caucus, among them Joe Barton of Texas, Fred Upton of Michigan, and Mike Simpson of Idaho, and several from competitive swing districts, including Ryan Costello of Pennsylvania and Elise Stefanik of New York.

But the Republicans did not endorse a specific piece of legislation or threaten to withhold support for any other legislation in a bid to resolve the issue.

At least four pieces of bipartisan legislation in the House and Senate propose new laws to protect dreamers from deportation and allow them to apply for US citizenship.

‘‘This is not a threat to leadership,’’ one of the cosigners, Representative Dan Newhouse, Republican of Washington, told reporters, adding later that ‘‘we don’t want to just pass legislation that would be popular, we want to pass legislation that would be successful.’’

‘‘We should not be using these young people’s lives as political footballs,’’ Newhouse added.

Representative David ­Valadao, Republican of California, who represents a part of inland California that is dependent on migrant farmworkers, added in a statement that dreamers ‘‘deserve to have confidence in what their future holds.’’

“This is not a partisan issue and Congress must come together to provide a legislative solution,’’ his statement said, “so these individuals may continue to live in the only home they know: the United States.’’

The letter of support also could become a critical factor in ongoing talks to pass a spending agreement in the coming weeks, as it confirms what many Democrats and Republicans who support immigration policy reforms have long believed: that there is widespread bipartisan support for changes in immigration laws.

Because their votes are needed to move any spending bill through the Senate, and probably through the House, Democrats have the power to force Republican leaders to accept­ concessions.