They submitted their filing fees. They
paid for the expenses of the government. They did it knowing that even
with this new status--this DACA status under President Obama's
Executive order--they didn't qualify for one penny of Federal
Government benefits, and by working, they would be forced to pay taxes,
which they were glad to do. Again, 780,000 came forward. Then came the last election--the election of a President of the
United States who had made immigration the centerpiece of his election
message and who had really sewn doubt, and even fear, about allowing
immigrants into our Nation of immigrants. It is not a new message in
America. It is hardly a new message around the world. Being suspicious
and fearful, even hateful, of immigrants has been a part of human
experience from the beginning of time. So what would happen to these DACA-protected 780,000 young people? President Trump announced, through his Attorney General, Jeff Sessions,
on September 5 of this year, that DACA protection was ending. As of
March 5 of next year, 2018, no one could sign up for DACA protection,
and as the protection expired for each of them, there was no renewal
for 780,000 young people. The President then challenged Congress and said: Do something. If I
believe, he said, that DACA is wrong, pass a law; take care of the
problem. He said that on September 5. Here we are in December, just
days away from the end of the year, and we have done nothing--nothing.
Keywords matched
immigration immigrants DACA