In his drive to let younger illegal immigrants live and work in the United States, President Obama created 750,000 so-called “Dreamers,” a population bigger than the cities of Boston, Las Vegas or even Washington, D.C., according to the latest Department of Homeland Security data.
What’s more, he has allowed nearly 600,000 to renew their rights under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program he created through executive action in 2012.
In a new Pew Research Center analysis of the statistics, the future of those “Dreamers” is in question as Obama leaves office and turns the keys over to President-elect Trump who has promised strong actions against illegal immigrants, starting with those with criminal records.
“More than 750,000 young unauthorized immigrants have received work permits and deportation relief through the federal government’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program since it was created by President Barack Obama, according to the latest data released by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services,” said Pew. “But they now must wait and see what becomes of the program under the Trump administration,” Pew added.
The Obama program gave illegals who came to the U.S. before age 16 a chance to stay and work for two years. Most were eligible to renew their status.
Pew’s review found that most live in California.
The new report came just as Homeland Secretary Jeh Johnson warned Trump against using Dreamer data to deport those in the program.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]
