WASHINGTON, D.C.–Hispanic Leadership Fund President Mario H. Lopez issued the following statement in response to President Trump’s decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA):
“The sad reality is that President Obama did overstep his Constitutional authority to implement the DACA program. HLF was front and center at the time of President Obama’s initial announcement, warning that DACA was more of a political maneuver than a serious attempt at real reform. In fact, President Obama himself pointed out that DACA was “a temporary stopgap measure.”
“However, with a several options available to him, President Trump’s decision to pressure Congress without committing to work with lawmakers on DREAM Act legislation or without outlining specifics of what he is willing to sign into law, casts doubt on his willingness to follow-through on his commitment to solve the issue of status for DREAMers after calling them “terrific kids” and promising a solution “that will make people happy and proud,” especially in light of the announced six-month window that does not give much time for legislative action when Congress already has a full plate of huge issues to deal with.
“It must be stressed that recipients of DACA, like all DREAMers, were brought to the country as children and did not violate any immigration law of their own volition. Numerous studies shows that they are productive members of our society who contribute much to the American economy. The fact that just two weeks ago the president deemed that Joe Arpaio–a man who was guilty of criminally profiling Latinos, who violated the Constitutional rights of American citizens, and who abused his power in a number of ways–is deemed worthy of amnesty while DACA recipients are now targets, is a black eye to the Latino and immigrant communities. There is no escaping that punishing kids for the actions of their parents is both bad policy and bad politics.”
“President Trump would have been wise to use his much-celebrated deal-making skills by working with Congress to repeal and replace DACA with an initiative that focuses on removing bad actors from the country and allows intelligent, industrious and law-abiding immigrants to continue to contribute to the success of our great nation.”
