Congress Must ‘Show Strong Moral Leadership’ on DACA

In response to the Trump administration’s announcement regarding the formal end to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) program, Sandy Santana, executive director of Children’s Rights, released the following statement:

“Children’s Rights condemns the rescission of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. The repeal will upend the lives of hundreds of thousands of youth in the United States known as Dreamers, unjustly subjecting them to fear and instability. Children’s Rights calls on Congress to pass legislation that will protect DACA beneficiaries and provide them with the ability to live, work, study and succeed in the United States.

“Ending DACA is cruel, inhumane and un-American. DACA allows for approximately 800,000 undocumented young people across the country to work and study without the fear of deportation. The program’s beneficiaries have undergone extensive background checks, pay income taxes and are productive members of the community. Almost 30 percent of DACA recipients are 22 years old or younger; more than 97 percent are in school or in the workforce.

“DACA beneficiaries all grew up in the United States, the average age of arrival being 6-and-a-half years old. Ending the program will force many Dreamers to return to countries they no longer know and threatens to tear families apart: about a quarter of DACA recipients have at least one child who is a US citizen and almost three quarters have at least one US citizen as an immediate relative.

“It is time for Congress to show strong moral leadership and take decisive action to support a generation of immigrants who are making invaluable contributions to our society.”

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