Program Protects Immigrants Who Came to US Before They Were 16
President Donald Trump has decided to end an Obama-era immigration program designed to protect undocumented people who were brought to America before the age of 16. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, known as DACA, currently protects about 800,000 voluntary enrollees, also called DREAMers. Early estimates had said the program could extend to 1.7 million under current guidelines.Â
Fox News, however, has just reported on-air that Trump will announce “as early as tomorrow” the end of DACA. Current enrollees would be allowed to stay in the country until their work permits expire. Permits are valid for two years, so DREAMers will have varying amounts of time to exit the country.
Returning to what the United States calls their “home” countries – many were brought here so young they have little or no memory of their native land – is in many cases a death sentence. For example, Central American countries like Honduras and El Salvador are literally called the murder capitals of the world.
Other Latin American countries, including Venezuela, Belize, Colombia, Brazil, and the Dominican Republic, are all listed on the United Nation’s list of the top 20 deadliest countries.
An NBC News poll out Thursday morning finds 68 percent of Americans think the issue of undocumented immigrants in this country is serious – and 71 percent say undocumented immigrants should be offered the opportunity to to apply for legal status.
And while most of the current DACA enrollees are now in their 20’s, a 2016 New York Times piece, “We’re Helping Deport Kids to Die,” explains just how lethal deporting children is.
Last week NCRM reported that Trump was likely to end DACA.
“I love kids,” the president said in February, just weeks after being sworn in. He promised to deal with DACA enrollees with “heart,” as the video below shows.
“We’re going to show great heart. DACA is a very, very difficult subject for me, I will tell you,” Trump told reporters. “To me, it’s one of the most difficult subjects I have. Because you have these incredible kids – in many cases, not in all cases. In some of the cases they’re having DACA and they’re gang members and they’re drug dealers too,” Trump said, in typical fashion.
“The DACA situation is a very difficult thing for me, because I love these kids, I love kids, I have kids and grandkids and I find it very hard doing what the law says exactly to do and, you know, the law is rough.”
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Image by Fibonacci Blue via Flickr and a CC license