“The Trump administration on Tuesday formally announced the end of DACA — a program that had protected nearly 800,000 young undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children from deportation,” Tal Kopan reports for CNN. “The Department of Homeland Security will stop processing any new applications for the program as of Tuesday and rescinded the Obama administration policy, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. ‘I am here today to announce that the program known as DACA that was effectuated under the Obama administration is being rescinded,’ Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Tuesday at the Justice Department.”
“In the five years since DACA was enacted… nearly 800,000 individuals who have received the protections,” Kopan reports. “In a statement after his agencies and attorney general announced the decision, President Donald Trump blamed former President Barack Obama for creating the program through executive authority and urged Congress to come up with a solution… The administration also announced a plan to continue renewing permits for anyone whose status expires in the next six months, giving Congress time to act.”
“The Trump administration pitched the move as the ‘least disruptive’ option available after facing a threat from 10 conservative state attorneys general to challenge the program in court, according to senior administration officials briefing reporters on the move during a conference call conducted on condition of anonymity,” Kopan reports. “Sessions had determined that the program would not be likely to withstand that court challenge, he said. ‘The Department of Justice cannot defend this overreach,’ Sessions said. ‘There is nothing compassionate about the failure to enforce immigration laws. Enforcing the law saves lives, protects communities and taxpayers, and prevents human suffering. Failure to enforce the laws in the past has put our nation at risk of crime, violence and even terrorism. The compassionate thing is to end the lawlessness, (and) enforce our laws.'”
“The administration insisted its approach was designed to offer some security to DACA recipients, emphasizing that if it had allowed the courts to decide the issue, then would have been risking an immediate and abrupt end to DACA at the hands of a judge,” Kopan reports. “But it also was made clear that once DACA begins to expire, if Congress doesn’t act, then people formerly protected ‘would be like any other person who’s in the country illegally,’ according to a senior DHS official… ‘To be clear, what ICE is doing now is what Congress intended, we’re actually enforcing the law the way it is written,’ said a senior ICE official. ‘This is the first President who’s asked us to enforce the law the way it is written and not asked us to have some executive interpretation of the law.’ The officials placed the onus on Congress to make any changes to the system.”
In anticipation of the sunsetting of the DACA program, Apple CEO Tim Cook on Sunday tweeting the following:
250 of my Apple coworkers are #Dreamers. I stand with them. They deserve our respect as equals and a solution rooted in American values.
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) September 3, 2017
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Note: U.S. President Trump earlier today tweeted specifically about the DACA policy:
Congress, get ready to do your job – DACA!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 5, 2017
SEE ALSO:
Apple CEO Tim Cook signs letter encouraging President Trump to preserve the DACA ‘Dreamers’ program – September 1, 2017
Laurene Powell Jobs’ Emerson Collective buying The Atlantic – July 28, 2017
President Trump tells Apple CEO Cook that U.S. needs comprehensive immigration reform – June 20, 2017
Laurene Powell Jobs launches new website in ‘DREAM Act’ push – January 22, 2013
Laurene Powell Jobs looks to create bipartisan support for DREAM Act immigration reform – December 18, 2012
