Rescission of DACA
On September 5th, 2017, President Donald J. Trump had his Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, issue a statement on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. In that statement, the executive order under Obama that came to be known as DACA was rescinded.
Origin of DACA
DACA was put in place by President Barack Obama as a way to take initiative regarding the Dreamers, when Congress was basically in a stalemate regarding almost any law.
The outline of this action is as follows:
- You were under 31 years old as of June 15, 2012;
- You first came to the United States before your 16th birthday;
- You have lived continuously in the United States from June 15, 2007 until the present;
- You were physically present in the United States on June 15, 2012 and at the time you apply;
- You came to the United States without documents before June 15, 2012, or your lawful status expired as of June 15, 2012;
- You are currently studying, or you graduated from high school or earned a certificate of completion of high school or GED, or have been honorably discharged from the Coast Guard or military (technical and trade school completion also qualifies); and
- You have NOT been convicted of a felony, certain significant misdemeanors (including a single DUI), or three or more misdemeanors of any kind.
For somebody to have qualified, they needed to meet ALL 7 requirements. 800,000 young people that did qualify decided to apply for this special deferment. This is important to note because the requirements are summarized as follows: you can never have been found guilty of any crime, you need to have been too young to really understand why you came to the U.S., and you need to be reasonably educated or have served in the military.
Thoughts
Based on the summary above, anyone who is DACA is essentially the model citizen for the country! These are people who follow the law, pay their taxes, have ambition to get further in life, and have pretty much only known America as their home. For this program to be cut away is like cutting out the hearts of these people.
Now I also have a thought regarding the defense for Trump’s decision. DACA was meant to have been an executive order only. Executive orders do not constitute law. Congress has had since 2012 to come up with a legitimate lawful version of DACA, and nothing has been passed and signed yet. I would like to think that this is Trump forcing Congress to come up with something immediately. The executive order honestly should not have existed for so long. And the executive branch cannot create policy regarding immigration; immigration policy is a duty of Congress, as listed in the separation of powers in the Constitution. Legally, Trump’s actions have been correct.
But that leads me to my counterargument: morally, Trump’s actions have been wrong. In a single tweet, Trump has thrown 800,000 people’s lives into fluctuation. There is so much uncertainty now, and legitimate fear and betrayal in the eyes of those who benefited from this program.
Religious Justification for Keeping DACA
My final thought is a quotation from the Bible (Matthew 25:41-45):
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
That Guy with the Weird Last Name 