As President Trump appears poised to announced the end of the 'DACA' program today, local Democratic members of Congress are vowing to take steps to come up with a new program to benefit the so-called 'Dreamers,' News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-San Antonio) says it is clear that DACA has been a success since President Obama implemented it by executive order in 2012, and he says there is no reason to end the program.
"I know young people who are here through DACA, Dreamers, who have completed their education and are our working as teachers, who are out working with law enforcement," Doggett said.
DACA, or 'Delayed Action for Childhood Arrivals,' is designed to provide legal status to young people who came to the U.S. with their illegal immigrant parents, and thus are not culpable for the 'crime' of illegal entry, any more than a child who was strapped into a ca seat during a bank robbery would face felony charges.
To qualify, the young person must remain a student in good standing, and have no other run ins with the law.
U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-San Antonio) says eliminating the DACA program and deporting all of the so called 'Dreamers' in Texas, would cost the state $6 billion a year in economic activity.
Supporters of DACA say for most of these young people, the U.S. is the only country they have ever known. They have no ties to the country their parents fled, and many don't even speak the language of that country, and to simply dump them into a foreign land is unreasonable.
But Trump backers say DACA is an attempt to extend the rights of illegal immigrants over the rights of native born Americans. They point out that there is no 'birthright citizenship' to people who entered the U.S. illegally at any age, and they blame the parents for knowingly placing their children in harm's way.
Doggett says repealing DACA makes no sense to him.
"There is nothing that would justify undoing the DACA program, other than pure prejudice against immigrants, and yielding to anti immigrant sentiment," he said.
President Trump is expected to announce that he is overturning Obama's executive order, but will not commence deportations of 'Dreamers' for six months, in order to allow Congress to approve a replacement program.