According to the Hill, rumors are circulating that President Trump may cancel the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. The Obama-era policy, also known as the Dreamers program, allows individuals who were brought to the United States illegally as children to stay and work in the United States.
President Trump campaigned on ending the policy, and 10 states attorneys general, including Kansas AG Derek Schmidt, signed a letter in June asked U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions to end the program.
“We respectfully request that the Secretary of Homeland Security phase out the DACA program,” the letter reads. “…And this request does not require the federal government to remove any alien.”
The letter says if the DACA policy is rescinded by Sept. 5, a pending lawsuit in Texas challenging DACA will be withdrawn.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services reports 6,803 people in Kansas who have received permission via DACA to stay and work in the U.S. The vast majority of all applicants are originally from Mexico, but the program also has granted permits to individuals from Brazil, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Guyana, Jamaica, Pakistan, and other countries.
Kansas Reps. John Alcala, D-Topeka, and Louis Ruiz, D-Kansas City, Kansas, lead a rally of about two dozen immigration advocates in Topeka on August 31. Speakers included individuals from Kansas who have DACA permits.
Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach made the media rounds on Friday, talking about Dreamer program with Fox News and MSNBC. He told Fox, the Courts are likely to end DACA if the administration doesn’t.
“The legal question isn’t even a close one,” he told Fox and Friends. “You’ve already had multiple courts say that a similar amnesty that came a few years after DACA was completely illegal. It’s a loser. And the president, if he were to continue DACA, would lose in court and politically.”
His appearance on MSNBC is likely to get more media coverage, however. There, show hosts said people who have committed crimes are not eligible for Dreamer program permits. Kobach said people who have been arrested but not yet prosecuted are eligible for DACA.
“So what happens is, a lot of gangbangers get arrested, but the state won’t have the resources to prosecute them, so they are released,” Kobach said. “…They’ve been arrested; they haven’t yet been convicted, but that arrest isn’t enough to disqualify them from DACA.”
Also on Friday, Speaker of the U.S. House, Paul Ryan said Trump should hold off on terminating the program.
“I believe that this is something Congress has to fix,” Ryan said.
