Announcement on DACA Made Today
The Trump administration announced today that it would rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA.
The program was one of former President Barack Obama’s immigration policy achievements, which he implemented through executive action. It allowed nearly 800,000 undocumented minors who were brought to the United States by their parents to attend school and be eligible for work permits, without the threat of deportation.
According to the recent announcement, no new applications for DACA will be considered. Meanwhile, anyone whose grant of DACA expires on or before March 5 of next year has until Oct 6, 2017 to renew it for a period of two years. Those applications will be approved on a case-by case-basis, says Camille Mackler, the director of Immigration Legal Policy at the New York Immigration Coalition. Those whose grants of DACA expire starting on March 6, 2018 are “out of luck,” she says. She adds that the administration has indicated that it hopes to work with Congress to come up with a permanent legislative fix.
“We view this as a starting gun for Congress to act,” says Mackler. She joins The Takeaway to discuss the announcement.
This segment is hosted by Todd Zwillich.
