The Trump administration on Tuesday announced it would wind down the Obama-era protection from deportation for 800,000 young illegal immigrants, including some 7,800 Indians, and leave it to the US Congress to come up with a legislative fix to the issue within a six-month period.
Dubbing the Obama initiative “unconstitutional” and a “presidential overreach” when he came up with the plan in June 2012, Attorney General Jeff Sessions told reporters that the Trump administration was rescinding the Deferred
Action for Childhood Arrivals programme.
“Congress, get ready to do your job — DACA!” President Donald Trump tweeted hours before the formal announcement made by Sessions, who said: “The programme known as DACA that was effectuated under the Obama administration is being rescinded. The policy was implemented unilaterally, to great controversy and legal concern.”
A host of organisations backing the young undocumented immigrants who were brought by their parents into the country illegally
were gearing up for protests outside the White House and across the nation.
“Today is a cruel day for Dreamers, our families and all Americans,” said the American Civil liberties Union (AClU). “President Trump just threw the lives and futures of 800,000 Dreamers and their families, including my own, into fearful disarray, and injected chaos and uncertainty into thousands of workplaces and communities across America,” an AClU representative said.
Trump, who had threatened to scrap the programme during his election campaign, had been issuing conflicting signals in recent weeks -- before finally deciding to toss the ball into the Congress’ court and directing it to act within six months, failing which the “Dreamers” could face the prospect of deportation all over again.
“As President, my highest duty is to defend the American people and the Constitution of the United States of America,” Trump said in a statement, adding: “At the same time, I do not favour punishing children, most of whom are now adults, for the actions of their parents. But we must also recognise
that we are nation of
opportunity because we are a nation of laws.”
Accusing his predecessor Barack Obama of bypassing Congress in June 2012 to come up with his programme of giving work permits, social security numbers and federal benefits to 800,000 illegal immigrants in the 15-36 age group, Trump said 10 States had threatened to sue the programme, forcing him to make a decision regarding its legality.
“The Attorney General of the United States, the Attorneys General of many states, and virtually all other top legal experts have advised that the program is unlawful and unconstitutional and cannot be successfully defended in court,” Trump said, adding, “There can be no path to principled immigration reform if the executive branch is able to rewrite or nullify federal laws at will.’
“Therefore, in the best interests of our country, and in keeping with the obligations of my office, the Department of Homeland Security will begin an orderly transition and wind-down of DACA, one that provides minimum disruption,” Trump said.
While new applications for work permits will not be accepted, all existing work permits will be honored until their date of expiration up to two full years from today. Also, applications already in the pipeline will be processed, as will renewal applications for those facing near-term expiration.
Permits will not begin to expire for another six months, and will remain active for up to 24 months. Thus, in effect, I am not going to just cut DACA off, but rather provide a window of opportunity for Congress to finally act.
“Our enforcement priorities remain unchanged. We are focused on criminals, security threats, recent border-crossers, visa overstays, and repeat violators,” Trump said in his statement, adding: “Congress now has the opportunity to advance responsible immigration reform that puts American jobs and American security first.”
“We are facing the symptom of a larger problem, illegal immigration, along with the many other chronic immigration problems Washington has left unsolved,” Trump said, adding: “We must reform our green card system, which now favors low-skilled immigration and puts immense strain on U.S. taxpayers.”
Future immigration into the US should be based on merit, he said, commending a legislation called RAISE Act, introduced by Senators Tom Cotton and David Perdue in the Senate to establish a merit-based system that will produce lasting gains for the American people.
“I look forward to working with Republicans and Democrats in Congress to finally address all of these issues in a manner that puts the hardworking citizens of our country first….It’s now time for Congress to act!” he said.