Trump drops amnesty for child immigrants
President Donald Trump yesterday rescinded an amnesty for 800,000 illegal immigrants who were brought to the US as children, in a move criticised by Barack Obama as “wrong and cruel”. The decision also prompted a backlash from Mr Trump’s own party and the business community.
DONALD TRUMP yesterday rescinded an amnesty for 800,000 illegal immigrants who were brought to the US illegally as children, in a move criticised by Barack Obama as “wrong and cruel”.
The decision also prompted a backlash from the business community and exposed deep divisions over immigration within the Republican party.
The president delayed the termination of the amnesty by six months, allowing a “window of opportunity” for Congress to potentially introduce a compromise and avoid deportations.
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) was introduced by Mr Obama, who was president at the time, in 2012. It allowed people who arrived illegally in the US when they were un- der 16, and who have no criminal record, to legally study and work. Their deferral from deportation was renewable every two years.
Many of those people, widely known as the “Dreamers,” have since been to university, obtaining qualifications and jobs. During last year’s election campaign, Mr Trump said he would end the programme as well as an “amnesty” for illegal border crossers.
Speaking at the Department of Justice yesterday, Jeff Sessions, the attorney general, said: “We are people of compassion and people of law, but there is nothing compassionate about failing to enforce immigration law. Failing to do so in the past has put our nation at risk.”
In a statement, the president said he did “not favour punishing children, most of whom are now adults, for the actions of their parents” but “above all else, we must remember that young Americans have dreams too”. He said there would be an “orderly wind down” in which Dreamers would be able to see out their two-year deferrals.
Mr Trump last night insisted that he has “great heart” for illegal immigrants brought to the US as children and he wants Congress to produce a legislative solution for them. “I have a great heart for the folks we’re talking about, a great love for them,” the president said. “I can tell you, in speaking to members of Congress, they want to be able to do something and do it right, and really we have no choice.”
Mr Obama said Mr Trump’s decision was “self-defeating” and called on Congress to protect the Dreamers “with a sense of moral urgency”.
“This is about young people who grew up in America. These Dreamers are Americans in their hearts, in their minds, in every way apart from on paper,” he said in a statement that marked a rare re-entry to the political stage.
♦ Church of England bishops have called on the Government to end indefinite detention and accused politicians of “dehumanising” migrants.
A group of 17 senior church figures signed a letter to The Daily Telegraph, which called on the Government to change its detention policies in the wake of a Panorama documentary that filmed detainees being abused.
The letter is also signed by Lord Ramsbotham, the former chief inspector of prisons, and representatives from the Church of Scotland and Methodist and Baptist churches.