Donald Trump has decided to take the cruel and inhumane step of doing away with the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, which grants work permits to undocumented immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children, and is expected to announce his intent to do so on Tuesday.
According to Politico and the NYT, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and former aide Stephen Miller convinced Trump to make the issue a congressional one, and delay implementing the decision for six months:
Senior White House aides huddled Sunday afternoon to discuss the rollout of a decision likely to ignite a political firestorm — and fulfill one of the president's core campaign promises. The administration's deliberations on the issue have been fluid and fast moving, and the president has faced strong warnings from members of his own party not to scrap the program.
But that's already been an issue, as the NYT notes:
But administration aides concede that Congress may be unable to agree on a legislative fix, given the headwinds that previous legislation has run into for years. It is unclear exactly what would happen after six months if Congress does not act.
Politico adds:
…White House aides caution that — as with everything in the Trump White House — nothing is set in stone until an official announcement has been made.
Trump is expected to formally make that announcement on Tuesday, and the White House informed House Speaker Paul Ryan of the president's decision on Sunday morning, according to a source close to the administration. Ryan had said during a radio interview on Friday that he didn't think the president should terminate DACA, and that Congress should act on the issue.
Ending the program would affect at least 800,000 people. A release from the Center for American Progress denounces the move:
From August 1, 2017 to August 20, 2017, Tom K. Wong of the University of California, San Diego; United We Dream (UWD); the National Immigration Law Center (NILC); and the Center for American Progress fielded the largest survey to date of DACA recipients to further analyze their economic, employment, educational, and societal experiences.
The data illustrate that DACA recipients continue to make positive and significant contributions to the economy, including earning higher wages, which translates into higher tax revenue and economic growth that benefits all Americans. In addition, DACA recipients are buying cars, purchasing their first homes, and even creating new businesses. The survey's results also show that at least 72 percent of the top 25 Fortune 500 companies employ DACA recipients. Moreover, 97 percent of respondents are currently employed or enrolled in school.
Ending DACA now would be counterproductive at best and cruel at worst.
See the study HERE.
One official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said that Mr. Trump was sympathetic to the plight of the young immigrants, known as Dreamers — many have known life only in the United States and have few connections to the countries of their birth — but had been told by Justice Department lawyers that his predecessor's program would not survive a court challenge.
Last week, John F. Kelly, the president's chief of staff, told associates that he did not see how the State of Texas, which has led the charge against the DACA policy, could proceed with a lawsuit while parts of the state are still underwater from Hurricane Harvey.
Democrats and corporate leaders, as well as Republicans, have urged Mr. Trump to preserve the program, and public opinion polls have found overwhelming support for allowing the young immigrants to stay and work in the United States.
