President tosses another grenade

President Donald Trump did it again. He kind of followed through on one of his campaign promises to rollback the Obama-era DACA program. More accurately, he tossed another grenade to Congress.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions made the announcement Tuesday morning.

“As attorney general, it is my duty to see that the laws of the United States are enforced,” Sessions said in his announcement. He called DACA an “unconstitutional exercise of authority by the executive branch” and said it had “denied jobs to hundreds of thousands of Americans.”

So, now a squabbling Congress has six months to address immigration, something it could not do under President Obama, who implemented the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival, or DACA, program in 2012.

With this move, Trump continues to play to the far right, which he feels was a major factor in his winning the election last November.

As expected many in the country on both sides are upset with the president for his no-decision decision. We think the majority of the people in the middle will see this as a reasonable compromise.

DACA granted a type of legal status for undocumented immigrants who were brought to the

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United States when they were very young. Their parents might have done something illegal by getting into this country, but these kids have done nothing wrong — they are not criminals. Applicants must meet certain criteria, pass a background check and maintain a clean record. They must also re-apply for the permits every two years.

According to data from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, there are about 800,000 people nationally who have been granted DACA.

Trump contends he had to act or face a lawsuit from 10 Republicanled states that claim DACA is unlawful. The coalition was not reportedly asking the Trump administration to deport anyone currently covered by DACA or rescind DACA permits that have already been issued, but instead requested to have DACA phased out.

If Congress is not able to pass a measure, nearly 300,000 people could begin to lose their status and be at risk for deportation in 2018 with more than 320,000 losing their status in the first eight months of 2019.

Unfortunately, the Dreamers have now become pawns on the political chessboard. We hope that Congress is able to enact meaningful immigration legislation, something that should have been done long ago.