Federal data has revealed that tens of thousands of undocumented immigrants have received work permits from the Trump administration under the deferred action program created by President Barack Obama. This is despite President Donald Trump saying that he would end the program as soon as he became President.
Trump had once called the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) an ‘unconstitutional executive amnesty’. But according to last week’s new statistics from US Citizenship and Immigration Services, over 17,000 new applicants were approved in the first three months of this year. 107,000 immigrants, who are already enrolled in the program, also saw renewals of their two-year work permits during this period, which includes the last 20 days of President Barack Obama’s tenure.
The new figures show that the deferred action program has continued at a robust pace under the new President, despite fears from some immigrant advocates that holders of work permits would be targeted for deportation by the Trump administration. Trump’s stance on the issue has softened since taking office, saying DACA recipients have nothing to worry about. His critics and anger from many of his supporters met this with skepticism.
The program has been a political minefield for Trump. It is popular with the Asian and Latino communities, but immigration hard-liners believe the cost of the President’s decision not to act is resulting in native workers being denied jobs.