On Tuesday, Sept. 5, President Donald Trump announced that he was pushing forward the cancellation of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, more commonly known as DACA.
The DACA program was instated in June of 2012 under the Obama administration. The program worked to protect children who were brought into the U.S. by their immigrant parents.
DACA came as an aid to those children to help them progress in the U.S. by providing them essentials such as a decent living, quality education and fitting future. These children, commonly labeled as “DREAMers”, are now perceived to be under threat by Trump’s recent decision.
Roughly 1.3 million individuals annually apply for DACA. The program gives immigrants five years of living comfortably in the U.S. without deportation. This gives immigrants a chance to pursue careers, higher education and all other comforts.
Many public figures have spoken out about the President’s recent decision.
“It is cruel and self-defeating,” said former President Barack Obama.
“The decision is not pro-life,” said Pope Francis.
“It will crush [immigrants] dreams and weaken the American dream for the rest of us,” said former President Bill Clinton.
The end of DACA could lead past recipients to deportation, sending them back to countries they are unfamiliar with.
President Trump views the Obama-enacted program as a threat to American society.
“Millions of Americans are victimized by this unfair system,” Trump said.
For those who are opposed to the
DACA program, it is viewed as a system that allows many illegal aliens job opportunities that should belong to American citizens.
“DACA is inconsistent with the rule of law, inconsistent with the president’s own promises, and inconsistent with the president’s principled stand against illegal immigration,” said Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach.
Trump’s plan is not to outright eliminate the immigration program, but to reconstruct the plan and replace it with a system that is more efficient.
“What I would like to do is a comprehensive immigration program,” Trump said. “But our country and political forces are not yet ready.”
It is clear in the media that there are more condemners than supporters.
“It is particularly cruel to offer young people the American dream, encourage them to come out of the shadows and trust our government and then punish them for it,” Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said.
For more information on statistics visit www.uscis.gov.
