The Trump administration Tuesday formally announced it will end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program — also called DACA — putting an expiration date on the legal protections granted to roughly 800,000 people known as "DREAMers," who entered the country illegally as children.
President Trump issued a statement, saying, "I do not favor punishing children, most of whom are now adults, for the actions of their parents. But we must also recognize that we are nation of opportunity because we are a nation of laws."
He also said he looks forward to working with Republicans and Democrats in Congress to address immigration issues "in a manner that puts the hardworking citizens of our country first."
Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a longtime opponent of the policy, made the formal announcement Tuesday morning. He called DACA "unilateral executive amnesty," and said the Obama administration "deliberately sought to achieve what the legislative branch specifically refused to authorize on multiple occasions. Such an open-ended circumvention of immigration laws was an unconstitutional exercise of authority by the executive branch." He said DACA "denied jobs to hundreds of thousands of Americans by allowing those same illegal aliens to take those jobs."
