In a statement after his agencies and attorney general
announced the decision, President Donald Trump blamed former
President Barack Obama for creating the program through
executive authority and urged Congress to come up with a
solution.
"It is now time for Congress to act!" he said.
Trump said that winding down the program would be more
considerate than letting the courts end it but
emphasized he stands by his "America First" agenda.
"As I've said before, we will resolve the DACA issue
with heart and compassion -- but through the lawful
Democratic process -- while at the same time ensuring
that any immigration reform we adopt provides enduring
benefits for the American citizens we were elected to
serve," Trump said. "We must also have heart and
compassion for unemployed, struggling and forgotten
Americans."
Later, Trump told reporters he feels compassion for
those affected, but "long term it's going to be the
right solution."
"I have a great heart for these folks we're talking
about. A great love for them and people think in terms
of children but they're really young adults. I have a
love for these people and hopefully now Congress will be
able to help them and do it properly," he said ahead of
a meeting on tax reform.
The administration also announced a plan to continue
renewing permits for anyone whose status expires in the
next six months, giving Congress time to act before any
currently protected individuals lose their ability to
work, study and live without fear in the US.
The Trump administration pitched the move as the "least
disruptive" option available after facing a threat from
10 conservative state attorneys general to challenge the
program in court, according to senior administration
officials briefing reporters on the move during a
conference call conducted on condition of anonymity.
Sessions had determined that the program would not
be likely to withstand that court challenge, he
said.
"The Department of Justice cannot defend this
overreach," Sessions said. "There is nothing
compassionate about the failure to enforce
immigration laws. Enforcing the law saves lives,
protects communities and taxpayers, and prevents
human suffering. Failure to enforce the laws in the
past has put our nation at risk of crime, violence
and even terrorism. The compassionate thing is to
end the lawlessness, (and) enforce our laws."
But in an internal email sent to all DHS staff,
acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke
struck a softer tone than the official line, while
still criticizing the previous administration.
"I am very aware of the consequences of this action,
and I sympathize with the DACA recipients whose
futures may now be less certain," Duke said in the
memo, obtained by CNN. "But I am also frustrated on
their behalf. DACA was never more than parole -- a
bureaucratic delay -- that never promised the rights
of citizenship or legal status in this country. And
for that reason, DACA was fundamentally a lie that
left recipients in two-year cycles of uncertainty."
DHS spokesman David Lapan confirmed the authenticity
of the memo that CNN obtained.
Congress faces deadline
The move sets a clock for Congress to act to
preserve the program's protections before the DACA
recipients begin losing their status March 5, 2018.
In a statement, House Speaker Paul Ryan reiterated
his aspiration that Congress will reach a solution
in time.
"It is my hope that the House and Senate, with the
president's leadership, will be able to find
consensus on a permanent legislative solution that
includes ensuring that those who have done nothing
wrong can still contribute as a valued part of this
great country," Ryan said.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell praised
Trump's move
"President Obama wrongly believed he had the
authority to re-write our immigration law. Today's
action by President Trump corrects that fundamental
mistake," McConnell said in a statement. "This
Congress will continue working on securing our
border and ensuring a lawful system of immigration
that works."
No one's DACA status will be revoked before it
expires, administration officials said, and any
applications already received by Tuesday will be
processed.
Anyone who's status expires by March 5 has one month
to apply for a new two-year permit, and those
applications will be processed.
If Congress were not to act, and DACA begins to
expire, nearly 300,000 people could begin to lose
their status in 2018, and more than 320,000 would
lose their status from January to August 2019. More
than 200,000 recipients have their DACA expiring in
the window that DHS will allow renewal.
Speaking with reporters on a conference call on
condition of anonymity, DHS did not rule out
that anyone with expired DACA would then be
subject to deportation. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement said it will continue to prioritize
for enforcement people with criminal records,
people who re-enter the US illegally and those
with final orders of removal.
But officials said there will be no formal
guidance that former DACA recipients are not
eligible for deportation, and ICE officers in
the field who encounter them will be making a
case-by-case judgment as to whether to arrest
that individual and process them for
deportation.
The administration insisted its approach was
designed to offer some security to DACA
recipients, emphasizing that if it had allowed
the courts to decide the issue, then would have
been risking an immediate and abrupt end to DACA
at the hands of a judge.
But it also was made clear that once DACA begins
to expire, if Congress doesn't act, then people
formerly protected "would be like any other
person who's in the country illegally,"
according to a senior DHS official.
All of the information provided to the
government by DACA applicants will remain in the
DHS system. US Citizenship and Immigration
Services, which administers the program, will
give that information to ICE if requested if
"there's a significant law enforcement or
national security interest," an official said.
While they won't be specifically targeted, DHS
said, they could be arrested and deported if
they are encountered by ICE officers. And their
information, which they provided extensively for
their DACA applications, will continue to reside
in DHS systems and could be accessed if officers
feel it's necessary in the course of an
investigation.
DHS said it had on plans to issue formal
guidelines on how former DACA recipients -- or
their information -- will be treated beyond the
current operating procedures of DHS.
"To be clear, what ICE is doing now is what
Congress intended, we're actually enforcing the
law the way it is written," said a senior ICE
official. "(This is t)he first President who's
asked us to enforce the law the way it is
written and not asked us to have some executive
interpretation of the law."
The officials placed the onus on Congress to
make any changes to the system.
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