The Trump administration said it will phase out the Obama-era program protecting from deportation some 800,000 illegal immigrants who were underage when they arrived. The US Congress will have six months to pass a law regulating their status.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the decision on Tuesday at the Department of Justice.
The Department of Homeland Security has been asked to conduct an “orderly, lawful wind-down” of the program, Sessions said, calling DACA “unconstitutional” in character.
Congress will have six months to pass a law that would regulate the status of people who were brought into the US illegally as children. Under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, some 800,000 of them were granted temporary protection from deportation by President Barack Obama’s executive action in 2012.
Congress, get ready to do your job – DACA!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 5, 2017
No one currently on DACA will be impacted before March 5, 2018, “so Congress can have time to deliver on appropriate legislative solutions,” acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke said in a statement.
Legislative efforts to resolve the status of underage illegal immigrants go back to 2001, when Senator Dick Durbin (R-Illinois) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) proposed the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act. This is why DACA recipients are often referred to as “Dreamers.”
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In addition to the minority Democrats, a number of Republican lawmakers have expressed support for keeping DACA, including Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin).
Legislative efforts to resolve the status of underage illegal immigrants go back to 2001, when Senator Dick Durbin (R-Illinois) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) proposed the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act. This is why DACA recipients are often referred to as “Dreamers.”
In addition to the minority Democrats, a number of Republican lawmakers have expressed support for keeping DACA, including Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin).
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Apple CEO Tim Cook have also publicly endorsed DACA.
