The Sentinel-Record

Decision expected soon on DACA

- JILL COLVIN

WASHINGTON — After months of delays, President Donald Trump is expected to decide soon on the fate of young immigrants who were brought into the country illegally as children as he faces a looming court deadline and is digging in on appeals to his base.

Advocates on both sides of the issue are bracing for the possibilit­y that Trump will halt the issuance of new work permits under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program, a move that would effectivel­y phase out a program that gave hundreds of thousands of young people a reprieve from deportatio­n and the ability to work legally in the U.S.

The White House, however, insisted Sunday that it had no announceme­nt on an issue the president has openly wrestled with for months.

The deliberati­ons come as Trump has been under fire for his response to a white supremacis­ts’ protest in Charlottes­ville, Virginia. Trump further fanned the flames of racial tension Friday when he pardoned Joe Arpaio, the former sheriff of Arizona’s Maricopa County, who had been found guilty of defying a judge’s order to stop racially profiling Latinos. The decision drew fury from Democrats and opposition from some Republican­s, but was hailed by Trump’s most fervent base.

Trump has wavered back and forth on his plans for DACA, which he slammed during his campaign as “illegal amnesty.” Since taking office, however, Trump has softened his stance on the issue, at one point telling The Associated Press that the affected young immigrants could “rest easy.”

His administra­tion, Trump said back in April, was “not after the dreamers, we are after the criminals.” All the while, the Department of Homeland Security has continued to grant two-year, renewable DACA work permits, to the dismay of immigratio­n hard-liners.

But now, Trump is under pressure to make a final call: His administra­tion is facing a September 5 deadline set by a group of Republican state lawmakers, led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. The group, which successful­ly halted an Obama-era program that would have protected certain parents living in the country illegally, threatened to take on DACA if the administra­tion does not rescind the order and stop issuing work permits by their deadline.

“It’s forced him,” said Roy Beck, the executive director of NumbersUSA, which advocates for lower immigratio­n. “Inertia’s great until something gets in your way and you have to either rev up the engines to go through the barrier or just stop.”

Continuing to process work permits is one thing; defending a program Trump called illegal in court is another. And many, including Trump’s chief of staff John Kelly, the former head of DHS, believe that DACA is on dubious legal footing and would not stand up in court. The president has several options. He could order DHS to halt the issuance of new DACA work permits immediatel­y — or at a future date — and perhaps call on Congress to come up with a legislativ­e fix, as, Kelly has in the past. There have been conversati­ons among lawmakers about ways to grandfathe­r current DACA recipients, and such a measure could become part of the horse-trading over the budget and raising the debt ceiling when Congress returns from August recess.

The administra­tion could also continue issuing DACA work permits, trigging the Republican court challenge, and then choose not to defend the measure in court.

Mark Krikorian, the exective director of the anti-immigratio­n group Center for Immigratio­n Studies, which also advocates a reduction in immigratio­n, said that he is in favor of allowing the affected immigrants to stay, but believes the administra­tion should use their imperiled status as a bargaining tool to push other priorities, like new limits on legal immigratio­n.

“My fear is, and always has been, is that they’re going to give away DACA for peanuts,” he said, pointing to a deal that would only secure funding for Trump’s promised southern border wall in exchange for some sort of legal status for those covered by DACA.

“That’s the only bargaining chip they really have with the Democrats,” he said.

Meanwhile, those who are impacted by the program have been preparing for the worst, said Sergio Garcia, an immigratio­n attorney in California who has handled thousands of DACA applicatio­ns

There’s “a lot of anxiety. A lot of people nervous, trying to figure out what’s next and what’s going to happen to them,” he said, pointing to Trump’s Arpaio decision as a troubling sign.

“Every time we think there’s a line this president won’t cross, he’s crossing it,” Garcia said.

 ?? The Associated Press ?? DACA DECISION: A woman holds up a signs in support of the Obama administra­tion program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, during an immigratio­n reform rally on Aug. 15 at the White House in Washington.
The Associated Press DACA DECISION: A woman holds up a signs in support of the Obama administra­tion program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, during an immigratio­n reform rally on Aug. 15 at the White House in Washington.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States