Congresswoman Barbara Lee Statement on President Trump’s Cruel End of DACA
Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Barbara Lee released the following statement on President Trump’s announced decision to end DACA:
“The United States of America is, has been, and will always be a nation of immigrants. As such, our immigration policies should be focused on keeping families together, not tearing them apart.
“Undocumented students who were brought to the U.S. through no fault of their own are working, going to school, living their lives, and contributing billions to the American economy. For five years, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program has allowed these innocent young adults to remain united with their families and safely reside in their communities.
“Ending DACA in order to deport its nearly 800,000 recipients is cruel and heartless. Instead of devastating families, President Trump and Republicans should be working toward comprehensive immigration reform to permanently fix our broken immigration system.
“Since President Trump has abandoned these young people, Congress must have the courage to do the right thing. I call on my colleagues to pass bipartisan legislation that will give qualified DACA recipients a path to citizenship and move to stop the raids by ICE and CBP in our communities, which undermine public safety and erode trust between local law enforcement and immigrant communities.”
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