States urge Trump to defend DACA
Atty. Gen. Becerra, 19 counterparts ask him to affirm U.S. ‘values and tradition as a nation of immigrants.’
California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra and 19 of his counterparts from across the country sent President Trump a letter Friday urging his administration not to touch an Obama-era policy that shields as many as 750,000 young immigrants from deportation.
The letter comes a month after Texas and nine other states threatened to sue the Trump administration if President Obama’s landmark Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals was not scrapped.
“We urge you to affirm America’s values and tradition as a nation of immigrants and make clear that you will not only continue DACA, but that you will defend it,” the attorneys general wrote. “The cost of not doing so would be too high for America, the economy, and for these young people.”
Becerra was met with cheers at Cal State Los Angeles on Friday when he told a crowd of students that he thought the program would survive legal challenges it could face in the future. “It has been a great boon for the California and American economy to have the ‘Dreamers’ come out of the shadows, and so we are here to say we stand with them because they are working for us,” he said.
Becerra’s statements come after Trump and his administration have sent mixed messages about the future of the program, leaving many on both sides of the immigration debate frustrated.
The president has said DACA is “one of the most difficult subjects” he faces because there are “incredible kids.”
Becerra, a former congressman who was appointed to be California’s top law enforcement official after Kamala Harris was elected to the U.S. Senate, was joined by his newly elected successor, Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Los Angeles).
Gomez, just two weeks into his new job, told the students that he was looking into using his position on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to call for hearings on the Department of Homeland Security's enforcement actions.
“Are they really going after DACA recipients and ‘Dreamers’? We are going to try and put them on the witness stand and really push on that,” he said. “A lot of times the Trump administration says one thing and then they do something else over here so we have to show people what they are actually doing over here.”