Immigrant-rights activists will rally outside the White House and in major cities across the country on Tuesday, preparing to blast President Trump if he follows through on what those on both sides of the debate expect will be a decision to call for an end the 2012 deportation amnesty for illegal immigrant Dreamers.
Mr. Trump will reportedly call for canceling the program in six months, effectively setting a deadline for Congress to act on a more permanent solution for the young adult illegal immigrants who for years have been protected by the legally questionable Obama-era program Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions scheduled an announcement on the subject for 11 a.m. Tuesday, the Justice Department said in a Monday evening statement.
The president is facing a deadline set by Texas, which had threatened to file a legal challenge to DACA unless Mr. Trump agreed to phase it out. The challenge would likely be successful, experts on both sides of the issue acknowledged.
But Democrats on Capitol Hill said bowing to legal pressure was no excuse, saying the president should mount a fight instead of capitulating.
“President Trump’s decision to end DACA should break the hearts and offend the morals of all who believe in justice and human dignity,” said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, who called the move a “cruel act of political cowardice.”
President Obama announced DACA in 2012, after years of saying he didn’t have such powers, as a way to grant tentative legal status to young adult illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. as children — many of whom haven’t known any other country than the U.S.
DACA grants a two-year stay of deportation, and offers a work permit, which in turn entitles illegal immigrants to a Social Security number, a driver’s license and tax benefits. In some states it also earns in-state tuition and even financial aid at public colleges.
The permits can be renewed, and tens of thousands of illegal immigrants are on their third go-around.
Mr. Trump’s announcement could set an endpoint to that process, but it does not mean most Dreamers will be deported. Indeed, while they would lose their guarantee of protections, Dreamers had to prove they had relatively clean criminal records to qualify for the program, which would make them lower priorities for deportation officers.
Still, opponents said, even an eventual cancellation of DACA will “sow chaos and fear.”
The president’s move would put extraordinary pressure on Republicans on Capitol Hill, who have been a stumbling block in the past.
In 2010, legislation known as the DREAM Act — the basis for the name Dreamers — would have granted a path to citizenship to more than 1 million young adult illegal immigrants. The bill cleared the Democratic-led House in a lame-duck session, and had a majority in the Senate, but was derailed by a GOP-led filibuster.
Much of the GOP base remains adamantly opposed to any legalization program.
“Here we are facing an amnesty legislation battle in the first year of Trump’s presidency,” said William Gheen, who leads Americans for Legal Immigration Political Action Committee. “Trump promised America there would be no discussion of amnesty for illegal aliens for many years, and if he breaks that promise tomorrow by giving Congress six months to pass an Amnesty bill, then Trump is clearly putting Mexicans first and Americans last!”
House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, Wisconsin Republican, last week said the House is working on legislation for the Dreamers, but that revelation took GOP aides who handle immigration by surprise. They said there was no such legislation under active consideration.
Instead, the House has passed bills calling for stiffer penalties for repeat-illegal immigrants and for penalties to be imposed on “sanctuary cities” that refuse to cooperate with federal authorities in deporting illegal immigrants.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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