By: Tal Axelrod ~ The Hill ~ June 18, 2020
Former Vice President Joe Biden vowed to make the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program permanent on “day one” if he’s elected president.
His statement came after the Supreme Court on Thursday blocked the Trump administration from ending an Obama-era program that shields nearly 700,000 young undocumented immigrants from deportation, upending a key feature of President Trump’s immigration agenda.
“The Supreme Court’s ruling today is a victory made possible by the courage and resilience of hundreds of thousands of DACA recipients who bravely stood up and refused to be ignored. As President, I will immediately work to make it permanent by sending a bill to Congress on day one of my Administration,” Biden said after the high court’s ruling.
The statement came after a 5-4 decision from the Supreme Court ruling that the administration failed to give an adequate justification for terminating the DACA program.
The court’s decision does not prevent the White House from working in the future to rescind the DACA program, which former President Obama established through executive action.
Trump, who campaigned on a vow to end Obama’s “illegal executive amnesties,” first said in 2017 he would work to rescind the program.
Democrats have largely rallied around DACA’s recipients, knowns as DREAMers, saying they would be innocent casualties in the GOP’s battle against the program.
“For over eight years, DACA has given hundreds of thousands of young immigrants who came to this country as children the chance to contribute to the country they know as home. And with that opportunity, they have shown the incredible capacity of the immigrant spirit,” said Biden. “[I] will continue to stand with DACA recipients, their parents, and their families at every step, and in November, joined by millions across this country, we will reject the President who tried to rip so many of our family members, friends, and coworkers out of our lives.”
Source: Tal Axelrod ~ The Hill ~ June 18, 2020
