Today, the Trump administration fulfilled its campaign pledge to repeal DACA, allowing the President to make a grand gesture to his core supporters, at the expense of 800,000 children and young adults. During a press conference today at 11am EST, President Trump, through U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, announced that DACA will be rescinded, and provided a 6-month period for an “orderly wind down” of the program. This means that, effective immediately, no new DACA applications will be accepted. Additional information on what is meant by an “orderly wind down” is expected in the coming hours and days from the various government agencies involved in the program.
FAQs and guidelines are expected to be released later today and in the upcoming weeks, as always EIG attorneys will continue to monitor the news on DACA and provide you with updates.
For the past 5-years, DACA provided young people who were brought to the United States as children an opportunity to apply for work authorization and temporary protection from deportation, allowing them to go to school, pursue careers, and provide for their families. By all accounts the program has been a resounding success with supporters on both sides of the aisle, and its repeal has already sent shock-waves across our economy and communities.
A society is judged on how it treats its most vulnerable, children included. Today, the administration put the future of 800,000 children and young adults in jeopardy. The President said in January that he has a “big heart” for dreamers and that they “shouldn’t be very worried”, but now dreamers, their communities, and their employers must wait with pained uncertainty to see what action, if any, Congress will take before the sunset of the DACA program on March 5th. The President himself has put the onus on Congress, tweeting earlier this morning “Congress, get ready to do your job”.
EIG stands by our country’s Dreamers and joins the call for immediate Congressional action from both the House and Senate.