On Tuesday, the Trump administration formally announced the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. The Department of Homeland Security will no longer process new applications for the deferred action program, which protected almost 800,000 undocumented immigrant youngsters who came to the US as minors.
Attorney General, Jeff Sessions made the announcement at the Justice Department, saying that the program, created by President Barack Obama in 2012, was now being rescinded. The program has been supported by Democrats, the business community, and many in the Republican Party, who say the fact that many of the so-called Dreamers have never known any country other than the US, as well as the contribution they make to society, should give them the right to stay.
President Donald Trump laid the blame for the end of the program squarely on the previous president for having used executive authority to create the program. He told Congress that they needed to come up with a solution to the problem. Trump claims that winding the program down was a more considerate approach than having it ended by the courts.
Trump claims he has compassion for the Dreamers but that ending the program was the right thing to do in the long-term, and that hopefully the issue would now be properly resolved by Congress. Those whose status will expire in the next six months may still receive renewed permits if the current plans go ahead. Congress has until 5 March 2018 to act before DACA recipients start losing their protected status.