Sunday night brought a POLITICO report that said President Donald Trump will end DACA with a six-month delay, so that he can pass the buck to Congress. As expected, these details got liberals and left-wingers concerned, but some immigration hardliners have gotten worried, too. Conservative commentator Ann Coulter lashed out in an email to The Daily Caller.
“What he did (according to Politico)— weep about the ‘fantastic’ illegals and announce he’s going to stop giving them amnesty 6 months from now, in order to a) give Congress time to pass an full amnesty, and b) block the courts ever ruling on what Obama did and Trump continued to do in total, egregious, fascistic violation of the constitution,” she wrote, calling it the “worst of all possible outcomes.”
Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) used similarly colorful language.
Ending DACA now gives chance 2 restore Rule of Law. Delaying so R Leadership can push Amnesty is Republican suicide. https://t.co/iYOLxFWp7V
— Steve King (@SteveKingIA) September 4, 2017
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) and Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Illinois) are sponsoring a bill which is designed to give DACA beneficiaries permanent legal status and therefore a chance at citizenship.
President Barack Obama implemented DACA–Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals–in 2012, shielding young undocumented immigrants from deportation, and providing work permits. It affects almost 800,000 people nationwide.
Officials scheduled an announcement for Tuesday. Conservative critics like Coulter, King, and House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) argue that DACA violates the Constitution–only Congress can implement this sort of policy, not the president. Indeed, two sources who spoke to POLITICO in Sunday’s report said that Attorney General Jeff Sessions told Trump that the legislative branch, not the executive, was responsible for immigration law.
For now, DREAMers, as they are colloquially known, remain in legal limbo, and probably will remain so even after Trump goes public with his decision. Republicans command a majority in Congress, but it’s a fractured one, hindering efforts on health care and the budget. The immigration battle won’t be a quiet one, either.
