Hispanic Federation Statement On President Donald Trump's Decision to Revoke DACA
“Hispanic Federation joins with immigrants’ rights advocates and civil rights organizations in unequivocally condemning President Trump’s decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Despite earlier expressing a desire to “show great heart” in dealing with undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States as children, this policy change is further proof of the President's deep-rooted xenophobia and animus towards our nation's immigrants.
President Trump has spent his first seven months in office trying to turn his anti-immigrant rhetoric into reality through a series of shameful executive actions. This latest action to end DACA, however, is the President's most immoral and mean-spirited step to date.
Created by President Obama in 2012, the DACA program has allowed 800,000 extraordinary youth in our nation to pursue their dreams of a higher education and a higher purpose. By every measure, the impact of DACA on undocumented immigrants and the United States as a whole has been tremendously positive. DACA recipients are more likely to be employed, earn higher wages, and are more apt to be enrolled in college. As modest as the relief offered by DACA is, it has substantially improved the lives of millions of immigrants, their families, and their communities.
Of course, by now we are accustomed to President Trump ignoring data and statistics when it comes to policy-making. Virtually every immigration-related decision or policy offered by the President since the start of his term has been based on a noxious mix of ignorance and prejudice. Today’s decision to end DACA is no different. We had hoped that the President’s expressions of concern for DACA recipients earlier this summer were a sign that he understood the enormous value that these young immigrants bring to our nation. What’s more, we had hoped that he recognized that DACA recipients often have no connection to their native country and are Americans in everything but status. But as with so much else coming out of this White House, we have realized that hoping for President Trump to do the right thing is a fruitless exercise. At every turn, he turns away from the values that truly make America great.
Today we reaffirm our solidarity with immigrant communities all across our nation and pledge to fight against this cruel policy change. On the streets and in the halls of Congress, Hispanic Federation will not stop until our DREAMers - and all of our nation's deserving immigrants - are granted a viable path to residency and citizenship."
