Trump Considering Ending DACA Program

Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services León Rodríguez and Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas deliver remarks during the four-year anniversary of President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action Childhood Arrivals initiative. Under DACA, eligible individuals who pass a background check and meet specific age, education, and U.S. residency requirements, are granted a temporary reprieve from deportation and are eligible to receive a renewable two-year work permit. Official DHS photo by Jetta Disco.

It seems likely that President Trump will announce a roll back of the President Obama era DACA program, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals that was enacted by executive order in June 2012.

A rescinding of the program is in keeping with Trump’s campaign promises of cracking down on illegal immigration, and is expected to meet with support from his most loyal supporters. An outcry, however, is expected, as DACA is considered a good solution for people, known as ‘dreamers,’ to continue contributing to society and not punishing them for being brought to the US illegally as young children.

It is expected that there will be at least a six-month lag time between the announcement of DACA’s nullification and the actual expiration of the program, a period of time that many supporters of the program hope congress will take advantage of to enact legislation achieving the same goals as DACA.

It is estimated that 800,000 undocumented immigrants are benefiting from DACA, which has been a popular program among Democrats, with most Republicans accepting it as a compromise between a humanitarian response to the predicament of innocent people who were brought to the US against their will, and a strict rendering of immigration laws. Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah and Republican Congressman and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan of Wisconsin both warned not to nix DACA.

Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, would like to see Congress pass a law which will protect the “Dreamers.”

“My hope is that as part of this process we can work on a way to deal with this issue and solve it through legislation, which is the right way to do it and the constitutional way to do it,” Rubio said to CNN last June.

Gail Nussbaum

Gail Nussbaum has been involved in politics and diplomacy for over 15 years. Her interest in foreign relations, economics and budget policy has led her to her position as fiscal policy writer at Left Justified. Gail can be contacted at gailnussbaum(at)leftjustified.com.

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