Trump spokesman signals that ending DACA no longer a priority
WASHINGTON — As a candidate, Donald Trump promised that if elected president, he immediately would terminate President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which has allowed DREAMers, the children of immigrants brought into the country illegally as minors, to live and work in America legally. On the first full work day in office, the Trump administration moved away from that campaign promise.
During a press briefing Monday, White House press secretary Sean Spicer confirmed that ending DACA is not a priority for the new president. Spicer explained that Trump prefers “to focus on those who are in this country illegally and have a record, a criminal record, or pose a threat to the American people.” That is, Trump has embraced the same approach to illegal immigration adopted by Obama in his first term.
The decision could affect thousands of people in Nevada, where 7.2 percent of the population is in the country illegally — the highest percentage in the country — according to a November report from the Pew Research Center.
Trump’s tune started to change after he won the election. In December, Trump suggested to Time magazine he was warming on DREAMers.
“On a humanitarian basis, it’s a very tough situation,” he said. “We’re going to work something out that’s going to make people happy and proud.”
Also in December, Obama urged Trump to reconsider his promise to end DACA because those who face deportation “for all practical purposes are American kids” brought to the United States by their parents. “They’ve done nothing wrong.”
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services confirmed Monday that it continues to process DACA applications.
When Obama implemented DACA in 2012, Mark Krikorian, of the pro-enforcement Center for Immigration Studies, wrote that Obama’s program represented an “unconstitutional” decree that “grants amnesty to perhaps 1.4 million illegal immigrants without permission from Congress.”
In the program’s first three years, 664,607 applications were approved, according to the National Immigration Law Center.
On Monday, as Trump’s evolving position became evident, Krikorian nodded to the new reality on social media. Krikorian stipulated that it would be “idiotic” for the government to round up all DREAMers who have benefitted from DACA. He also warned that if Trump’s administration grants or renews a single DACA application, that would represent “an explicit betrayal, one unlikely to be forgiven.”
For their part, DACA supporters have been slow to believe Trump’s possible change of heart.
“For us, it’s a good thing he won’t move on DACA,” said Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition of Humane Immigrant Rights Los Angeles. “But I feel like, from our perspective, he should be firmer.”
Salas wants Trump to assure immigrants in the country illegally who qualify for DACA that they won’t face deportation later in his term. She added that upholding DACA is not enough, not if it means the parents of DREAMers still face deportation.
Contact Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@reviewjournal.com or at 202-662-7391. Follow @DebraJSaunders on Twitter.
