White House: DACA decision soon
List of supporters grows, urges Trump to save program
WASHINGTON — The White House promised a decision Tuesday on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program as the nation’s business, religious and congressional leaders urged President Donald Trump to save the program that shields young immigrants from deportation and provides work permits for employment.
“We love the Dreamers,” Trump said Friday at the White House, using a shorthand term for the nearly 800,000 young people who were given a reprieve from deportation and temporary work permits under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program created by the Obama administration. “Over the weekend, we’ll have a decision.”
Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders later said the announcement would be made Tuesday.
The pending decision comes as House Speaker Paul Ryan joined Friday with executives of some of the nation’s most well-known companies — including Google, General Motors, Microsoft and Starbucks — urging Trump not to dismantle the program for the young immigrants, whose compelling stories of growing up in the U.S., after being brought to the country illegally as children, have engendered widespread and bipartisan support.
Trump is under pressure to end the Obama-era protections for the DACA recipients, prodded by immigration critics and 10 Republican attorneys general who are expected to file a legal challenge next week.
But Trump appears conflicted, having promised to have “heart” when it comes to the more than 750,000 young immigrants registered with the federal government and whose ability to work and remain in the U.S. would be in jeopardy.
The program provides temporary, two-year permits that protect the immigrants from deportation if they remain lawful, work or attend school or join the military.
As Trump heads to Texas on Saturday to survey damage from Gulf Coast storm Harvey, he is likely to be met by many DACA benificiaries, who number 50,000 in Houston and have been a longtime, organized presence in the region.
“As entrepreneurs and business leaders, we are concerned about new developments in immigration policy that threaten the future of young undocumented immigrants brought to America as children,” hundreds of business and tech industry leaders, including executives of Apple, eBay, Crate & Barrel and Cushman & Wakefield, wrote.
Ryan said Friday that Trump should not end the program and instead hold off while Congress considers a legislative solution for the young people in “limbo.”
“I actually don’t think he should do that,” Ryan said on WCLO radio in his hometown of Janesville, Wis., according to CNN. “I believe that this is something that Congress has to fix.”
Another top Republican, Sen Orrin Hatch of Utah, also weighed in Friday.
“I’ve urged the President not to rescind DACA,” Hatch wrote on Twitter, arguing that the solution “must come from Congress.”
Religious leaders, including evangelical Christians, have also joined in support of maintaining the program.
Studies show that most DACA recipients — 87 percent — are using their work permits to gain legal employment, and 83 percent of those in school also are working.
About 6 percent of DACA recipients have started businesses and 12 percent are homeowners, according to the report from the Center for American Progress, a liberal-leaning advocacy group.
“I stand with the Dreamers,” Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg wrote Friday.
“Dreamers have a special love for this country because they can’t take living here for granted. We need a government that protects Dreamers,” Zuckerberg wrote. “These young people represent the future of our country and our economy. They are our friends and family, students and young leaders in our communities. I hope you will join us in speaking out.”
Trump’s administration has stepped up detentions of immigrants in the country illegally since January, doing away with Obama-era enforcement priorities that targeted those with criminal backgrounds.
One person familiar with the discussions said the president is likely ultimately to choose to end or phase out the program, according to The Associated Press. But the person said the president was looking for ways to soften the blow in various ways, such as ending the program at a future date in order to give Congress time to come up with an alternative protection.
The business leaders, organized by immigration advocate Fwd.us, also called on Congress to intervene with a legislative fix to ensure the young people will not lose their protected status and face deportation.
“We call on President Trump to preserve the DACA program. We call on Congress to pass the bipartisan Dream Act or legislation that provides these young people raised in our country the permanent solution they deserve.”
Ever since the collapse of a bipartisan immigration overhaul in 2013, Congressional has not delved deeply into the issue, but several bills are now pending in Congress to protect these immigrants.