DACA supporters march to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office to protest shortly after US Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ announcement that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), will be suspended with a six-month delay, Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2017, in Phoenix. President Donald Trump on Tuesday began dismantling DACA, the government program protecting hundreds of thousands of young immigrants who were brought into the country illegally as children. (Photo by MATT YORK / AP)
WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump on Tuesday began dismantling Barack Obama’s program protecting hundreds of thousands of young immigrants who were brought into the United States illegally as children, declaring he loves the “dreamers” who could face deportation but insisting it’s up to Congress, not him, to deal with their plight.
Trump didn’t specify what he wanted done, essentially sending a six-month time bomb to his fellow Republicans in Congress who have no consensus on how to defuse it.
Trying to have it both ways
On Twitter on Tuesday night, he wrote: “Congress now has 6 months to legalize Daca (something the Obama Administration was unable to do). If they can’t, I will revisit this issue!”
Trump tried to have it both ways with his compromise plan: fulfilling his campaign promise to eliminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) program, while at the same time showing compassion for those who would lose deportation protection and the ability to work legally in the United States.
New applications will be rejected and the program will be formally rescinded, but the Trump administration will continue to renew existing two-year work permits for the next six months, giving Congress time to act.
“I have a love for these people and hopefully now Congress will be able to help them and do it properly,” Trump told reporters.
Yet at the same time, the White House distributed talking points to members of Congress that included a dark warning: “The Department of Homeland Security urges Daca recipients to use the time remaining on their work authorizations to prepare for and arrange their departure from the United States.”
Although Trump’s announcement had been anticipated in recent days, it still left young people covered by the Daca program reeling.
“You just feel like you are empty,” said a sobbing Paola Martinez, 23, who came to the United States from Colombia and recently graduated with a civil engineering degree from Florida International University.
Shift to Congress
The predicament of the “dreamers” now shifts to Congress, which has repeatedly tried — and failed — to pass immigration legislation.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the president would look to Congress to pass a “responsible immigration reform package” with money to control the border with Mexico and better protect American workers’ jobs—along with protecting “dreamers.”
Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Senate Republican, said if Trump truly wanted a comprehensive immigration reform package, including a solution for the 11 million immigrants in the country illegally, he would be disappointed.
Congress tried that and failed in 2013, and Republican leaders immediately ruled it out on Tuesday.
Executive action
The Daca program was created by Obama by executive action in 2012, when it became clear Congress would not act to deal with the young immigrants’ plight in legislation that was dubbed the “Dream Act.”
Trump ran his campaign as an immigration hardliner, labeling Daca as illegal “amnesty” and pledging to repeal it immediately.
But he shifted his approach after the election, expressing sympathy for the “dreamers,” many of whom were brought to the United States by their parents when they were very young and have no memories of the countries where they were born.
Best of bad options
Trump’s aides painted his move to gradually phase out the program as the best of bad options: State officials had threatened a lawsuit if he did not act by Tuesday to repeal the program, which has given nearly 800,000 young immigrants a reprieve from deportation and the ability to work legally in the United States in the form of two-year, renewable work permits.
“In effect, I am not going to just cut Daca off, but rather provide a window of opportunity for Congress to finally act,” Trump said.
He said he was not in favor of punishing children for the actions of their parents, but he added, “Young Americans have dreams, too.”
Lawmakers were trickling back to the Capitol on Tuesday from a summer recess, and they already were confronting a daunting to-do list including a relief package for Hurricane “Harvey” victims and a pressing need to raise the federal borrowing limit.