Pro-immigration groups, lawmakers and others who supported former President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program blasted President Trump on Tuesday for doing away with the program and said it will put hundreds of thousands of younger immigrants at risk of deportation and economic insecurity.
The National Immigration Law Center called Trump’s decision a “morally bankrupt choice.”
“President Trump allowed DACA to continue for his first seven months in office. He told young immigrant people that they could ‘rest easy’ and not fear deportation. Now Trump has bowed to his anti-immigrant advisors and base — putting politics above people, hate above reason,” said Marielena Hincapié, NILC executive director.
Latin groups, including the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said Trump acted on “tainted and biased ‘legal’ advice.”
The country’s largest business lobbyist, the Chamber of Commerce, said the move threatens the health of the U.S. economy.
“With approximately 700,000 DACA recipients working for all sorts of businesses across the country, terminating their employment eligibility runs contrary to the president’s goal of growing the U.S. economy. We ask that the administration and the Congress work together to quickly find a legislative solution before the program expires,” said Neil Bradley, the Chamber’s senior vice president and chief policy officer.
Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., who has been a leader in Congress for immigrant rights, said he will not support any funding bill that does not include a “safe harbor” for Dreamers or DACA recipients.
“I have already spoken with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) and will be talking to other Democrats in the House, but if Republicans need our votes, we need to have legislation to protect immigrant youth who have DACA,” Gutierrez said in a statement. “If they need our votes, we are bringing 800,000 young immigrants with us.”
Senior Democratic lawmakers also protested the move. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi sent out a fundraising email on behalf of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee afterward and about Trump’s “deeply shameful act of political cowardice” afterward.
The Bipartisan Policy Center’s Immigration Task Force said it doesn’t support Trump’s move to rescind DACA, but agreed the program’s future ought to be decided by the legislative branch, not an Obama-era executive order or even Trump’s decision to end it on March 5, 2018.
“Ultimately, updating our immigration system is going to require legislative action, whether through one comprehensive bill or through a number of incremental changes. The system is too outdated, too broken, and too unresponsive to modern realities to serve anyone’s best interests. Congress has the power to craft a permanent solution. It’s time to act on that power,” the group said in a statement.
House Speaker Paul Ryan reiterated the need for Congress to find a “permanent legislative solution,” but did not say how he plans to arrive at a consensus on immigration reform with Democrats or within his own party.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., are trying to rally support for the DREAM Act, which would give DACA recipients a path to citizenship.
Trump’s move was also praised by several groups that opposed Obama’s executive action. NumbersUSA said the Trump administration’s decision was a gift to unemployed Americans.
“President Trump has delivered a wonderful Labor Day present to unemployed American Millennials by ordering the end of former President Obama’s unconstitutional issuing of work permits under the DACA amnesty,” NumbersUSA President Roy Beck said in a statement. “Now it is time for Congress to focus on strong immigration enforcement measures and reforms to our legal immigration system that put American workers first.”
The Tea Party Patriots said it was happy Trump has asked Congress to decide on the issue and reminded the administration of Trump’s other campaign promises that are still in limbo seven months into his presidency.
“We look forward to working with the president to help him keep other vital promises, like fully repealing Obamacare, passing tax relief for middle-class families, and confirming judges who promise to interpret our Constitution the way it was understood by the Founding Fathers,” that group said.
