This Sunday, President Trump has solidified the fear that this administration is exactly as evil as everyone thought they’d be. This time, he’s failed the Dreamers.
President Trump decided to scrap the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, with a six month delay. The Obama-era policy protects around 800,000 young women and men, often called “Dreamers," who were brought to this country with their families illegally as children.
On Tuesday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions confirmed this news in a press conference on behalf of the Department of Justice. As reported by CNBC, Sessions stated that the immigration program was unlawful and an overreach by Obama that cannot be defended.
According to Politifact, Trump pledged to immediately scrap this program during his 2016 campaign, gaining even more support from his xenophobic base. But after inauguration, he seemed to soften on the issue, promising to treat the Dreamers with “heart."
Unfortunately for Dreamers, President Trump’s heart is nothing but cold and dark as he now puts it on Congress to decide whether they will protect the children who were brought here involuntarily and only know the United States as their home, or leave them homeless in a foreign land.
The Dreamers’ last hope for safety lies with Congress in these upcoming six months, as it has the power to draft legislation protecting these youths by putting Obama's DACA executive order into law. Last week in a radio interview on his hometown radio station WCLO, Paul Ryan stated his wish that President Trump would not rescind the program, but will Ryan now stand up and protect the recipients?
On Tuesday, a CNN reporter interviewed Greisa Martinez (top), an Advocacy Director at the United Dream Network, who was in front of the White House protesting Trump’s latest decision. She stated the administration’s rescinding of DACA is just “a reflection of what we saw in Charlottesville: white supremacists threatening our democracy.” Martinez is originally from Hidalgo, Mexico, but emigrated to the US as a child and has lived as an undocumented immigrant in Dallas, TX. When asked how she and United We Dream plan to act on the issue, Martinez passionately promised to “fight like hell," as immigrants are “here to stay."
Top image via Ficlkr user Elvert Barnes
Second & third image via United We Dream
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Lianna Remigio is a twenty-year-old Editorial Intern at BUST and studies communications at City College in Harlem, currently living in the Bronx. You can find her on twitter @lillypads_ tweeting out dank memes and political news. In her free time, Lianna is a writer of short stories and essays as well as poems. Originally from Rockland County, her music taste can be described as a cross between a sad suburban, indie kid and a 30-year-old Bronxite. Tune in to WHCR 90.3 FM Mondays from 3 PM to 4PM to hear her talk about trending topics on "The Grey Area".
