The Trump Administration has decided to phase out Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, the Obama-era program that has shielded almost 800,000 immigrants from deportation for the past five years.
“The program known as DACA that was effectuated under the Obama Administration is being rescinded,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Tuesday.
At the Department of Justice, Sessions said the program allowed immigrants to take jobs that would have otherwise gone to Americans and contributed to a surge of young undocumented immigrants across the Southern U.S. border. Those who crossed the border during the 2014 surge would not have been eligible for DACA.
The threat of legal action against DACA by Republican attorneys general from nine states pushed the Trump Administration to come to a decision on the Obama-era program.
In a letter to Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke on Monday, Sessions concluded that the program was an “unconstitutional exercise of authority by the Executive Branch” and would not likely withstand the pending legal challenge because it’s similar to a program that would have protected parents that failed to withstand a court challenge.
Sessions recommended that instead of leaving the fate…
