Note to wife:
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) was created through executive order by President Obama in 2012 to allow nearly 800,000 undocumented people who were brought to the United States as children to live and work without fear of immediate deportation. They are eligible for two-year deferments that can be renewed if they demonstrate good behavior. The idea was not to penalize these “dreamers” for the illegal actions of their parents.
Arizona’s former governor, Janet Napolitano, was one of the architects of the plan during her tenure as Obama’s Homeland Security director. An estimated 28,000 “dreamers” currently work or go to school in the state. Interestingly, Arizona was the first state to challenge DACA — thanks to another governor, Jan Brewer, who issued her own executive order that later was ruled illegal.
Donald Trump, throughout his presidential campaign, vowed to end the program. Yesterday Trump made good on his promise — sort of. While saying he would rescind DACA in six months, Trump also asked Congress to legislate a solution to protect the “dreamers.”
This is actually appropriate. It was Congress’ inability to pass the Dream Act (thanks to Republican opposition) that led Obama to issue his executive order in the first place. DACA is meant to be a temporary action until a permanent legislative solution is established. But given today’s “no compromise” stance by the political parties on any substantive issue, let alone a divisive one like this, it seems unlikely such a deal could be made.