Trump: Protection OK in broad overhaul
He says bill must fortify border and protect jobs; Obama: Order is ‘cruel.’
President DonWASHINGTON — ald Trump on Tuesday ordered an end to the Obama-era executive action that shields young people in the country illegally from deportation, calling the program an “amnesty-first approach” and urging Congress to replace it with legislation before it begins phasing out on March 5, 2018.
“Ido not favor punishing children, most of whom are now adults, for the actions of their parents,” Trump said in a written statement. “But we must also recognize that we are nation of opportunity because we are a nation of laws.”
The statement was released shortly after Trump, who had called the issue a personal dilemma, dispatched Attorney General Jeff Sessions to announce that the government will no longer accept new applications from people in the country illegally to shield them from deportation under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA.
Administration officials said the roughly 800,000 current beneficiaries of the program — brought to the United States ille-
gally as children — will not be affected immediately by what they called an “orderly wind down” of former President Barack Obama’s policy.
“Only by the reliable enforcement of immigration law can we produce safe communities, a robust middle class, and economic fairness for all Americans,” Trump said, calling the DACA program an “amnesty-first approach.”
“Before we ask what is fair to illegal immigrants, we must also ask what is fair to American families, students, taxpayers and job seekers,” the president added.
The announcement prompted an outcry, particularly from Democrats and immigration advocacy groups. Obama, who had pledged to speak out should Trump end the program, said that the president had singled out young strivers for punishment they did not deserve.
“To target these young people is wrong — because they have done nothing wrong,” Obama said on Facebook. “It is self-defeating — because they want to start new businesses, staff our labs, serve in our military, and otherwise contribute to the country we love. And it is cruel.”
He urged Congress to pass a bill to protect those who were shielded from deportation by the program.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, said Trump would support legislation to protect the so-called “Dreamers” as long as Congress passes it as part of a broader immigration overhaul to strengthen the border, protect U.S. jobs and enhance enforcement.
“The president wants to see responsible immigration reform, and he wants that to be part of it,” Sanders said, referring to protections for the young immigrants. “Something needs to be done. We want to be part of it.”
But Sanders would not say whether the president would support a stand-alone bill that only addresses protection for the young immigrants. And she declined to say what Trump might do if Congress fails to act by the time the DACA recipients start losing their work permits and deportation protection next March.
“We have confidence that Congress is going to step up and do their job,” she said. “This is something that needs to be fixed legislatively.”
Earlier Tuesday, it was Sessions, an immigration hardliner who has helped shape Trump’s views, who publicly announced the move, in essence shifting responsibility for the immigration issue to lawmakers.
“The program known as DACA that was effectuated under the Obama administration is being rescinded,” Sessions told reporters, adding that “the policy was implemented unilaterally, to great controversy and legal concern.”
Sessions called the Obamaera policy an “open-ended circumvention of immigration laws” and an unconstitutional use of executive authority.
“The executive branch through DACA deliberately sought to achieve what the legislative branch specifically refused to authorize on multiple occasions,” he said.
The announcement formally started the clock on revoking legal status from those protected under the 5-year-old program.
Obama created DACA as a way of protecting young immigrants from deportation after Republicans in Congress repeatedly blocked passage of legislation to accomplish that goal. The policy allowed about 800,000 young adults who were brought to the United States illegally as children to work legally in the U.S. and remain in the country without the fear of immediate deportation.
Officials said some of the current immigrants already receiving protection under the Obama-era plan will be able to renew their two-year period of legal status until Oct. 5. But the announcement means that if Congress fails to act, immigrants who were brought to the United States illegally as children could face deportation as early as March to countries where many of them have never lived.
“Congress now has the opportunity to advance responsible immigration reform that puts American jobs and American security first,” Trump said in his statement, calling for the enactment of legislation that would slash legal immigration levels by prioritizing the admittance of people who speak English and have advanced skills. In the statement, he notably did not endorse bipartisan legislation to codify the Dreamers’ protections.
The president said he wanted to “resolve the DACA issue with heart and compassion — but through the lawful democratic process — while at the same time ensuring that any immigration reform we adopt provides enduring benefits for the American citizens we were elected to serve. We must also have heart and compassion for unemployed, struggling and forgotten Americans.”
Immigration officials said that they do not intend to actively target the young immigrants as priorities for deportation, though without the program’s protection, the immigrants are considered subject to removal from the United States and would no longer be able to work legally.