Washington, D.C., September 5, 2017 – Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced today that the Trump administration will be winding down the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which was established in 2012 by executive action. With this, Congress’s responsibility to enact legislation to protect Dreamers is more pressing than ever before.
“A DACA rollback requires Congress to act immediately,” says Linda Chavez, senior fellow at the Niskanen Center and former official in multiple Republican administrations. “The 800,000 young people whose lives have been upended deserve better than political squabbling. Forcing those who’ve grown up here and known no other country to leave would be an indelible stain on this nation.”
Chavez continues, “It serves no purpose whatsoever, and would wreak havoc on many communities across the nation, forcing some of the best educated and most productive young immigrants to leave after we’ve invested in their schooling and could benefit for years to come from their contributions.”
“We call on members of Congress to take on this issue immediately, and pass legislation like the Recognizing America’s Children (RAC) Act, to ensure that Dreamers can stay in the United States and continue contributing to our economy and our society,” Chavez adds.
The Niskanen Center is a Washington, D.C.-based libertarian think tank that works to change public policy through direct engagement in the policymaking process.
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