President Donald Trump won’t immediately dismantle the controversial Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals initiative that former President Barack Obama instituted via executive action in 2012, the new administration has indicated, despite fiery promises otherwise from the campaign trail.
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer at a press briefing on Monday de-emphasized DACA as an action item, dodging a question about when the president might make a change, but saying Trump will “prioritize the areas of dealing with the immigration system — both building the wall and making a priority of deporting criminals.
President Trump may not immediately reverse the Obama Administration policy that protected young immigrants from being deported, his White House signaled on Monday.
“The focus is going to be on people who have done harm to our country,” White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said Monday.
DACA recipients are a small subset of the total undocumented population. Consider the requirements: They entered the United States before their 16th birthday, were under the age of 31 as of June 15, 2012, physically present in the country on that date, and present also at the time of their application. Under the terms of the executive order, they are all high school graduates, GED holders, or persons honorably discharged from the U.S. Armed Forces. They have lived continuously in the United States since June 15, 2007, and none has ever been convicted of a felony or even a significant misdemeanor. At the time of their receipt of temporary legal status, all were judged to pose no threat to national security or public safety by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Like other children who grew up in the United States at the same time, DACA recipients made their way through U.S. schools, earned a high school degree or equivalent, and stayed out of trouble with the law. Their primary language is English; most are either in college or employed. The only thing that distinguishes these young people from U.S. citizens of the same age is that — for some part of their childhood — DACA recipients were undocumented, which of course constitutes a civil infraction and not a criminal offense.
Moreover, by definition all DACA recipients entered into undocumented status as a result of actions taken by their parents or adult guardians. They did not make the decision to violate U.S. immigration law themselves, and by any reasonable standard of justice they are not to blame for ending up in undocumented status. It is a basic principle of law and ethics that children should not be punished for the transgressions of their elders.