Massachusetts Officials On Trump Decision To End DACA

WALTHAM, MA — The Trump Administration announced Tuesday that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA will be phased out. The Obama-era program has allowed hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants who arrived as children across America, including nearly 8,000 in Massachusetts, to attend college and work legally as a path to citizenship.

The announcement set off a flurry of angry statements and calls to action across the country, across the state, and across aisles.

Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, criticized the decision as one that will be detrimental to the state.

"President Trump made the wrong decision today that could negatively impact our economy and many of the Commonwealth's families," Baker said in a statement. "I hope Congress acts quickly to find a bipartisan, permanent solution to maintain the protections of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients, which includes approximately 8,000 young Massachusetts residents who are right now serving in our military, attending our schools and contributing to our economy while striving to give back to their communities."

Mayor Marty Walsh didn't mince words either. He said those affected are "as American as [Attorney General] Jeff Sessions and Donald Trump."

Similar condemnations of the president's action came from top elected Democrats across the state, including U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Senate President Stanley Rosenberg.

READ: Jeff Sessions: DACA Is Being Rescinded

In Boston, U.S. Senator Edward Markey, Attorney General Maura Healey, Walsh, Boston Schools Superintendent Tommy Chang, community leaders, and some people who have benefit from the DACA program, sent a unified message at a press conference today following the announcement.

"We will fight to defend DACA," said Executive Director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition Eva A. Millona. "We will fight for the DREAM Act in Congress, to give young immigrants a clear, reliable path to citizenship. And we will fight for state and local policies to ensure that Dreamers and all people in our communities feel safe and welcome in our communities, no matter where they came from.

"Ending DACA is a needless act of cruelty by an administration that has been relentlessly anti-immigrant. It’s also unwise and antithetical to American values."

Healey was direct as she decried Trump's decision.

"I am tired of the hypocrisy, I am tired of the lies and I am tired of the misinformation," she said. "DACA has been challenged in court and has been left standing. And more importantly, these are young people who are doing everything right and playing by the rules and following the rule of law."

Millona expanded on the governor's comment on the economy saying ending DACA will cost an estimated 700,000 jobs and $2 billion a year in tax revenue. She said she feared it would force highly productive, skilled workers underground, harming U.S. businesses.

Meanwhile the president of the Boston City Council criticized the move as an afront to the concept of the American Dream.

"The DACA program represents the promise of America -- that if you work hard, you have a place here. This decision not only strikes a blow at the young people who are rightly called Dreamers, but at the American Dream itself," said Boston City Council President Michelle Wu in a statement.

Wu, who is the daughter of immigrants, went on to talk about the moral implications of such a decision.

"Our country was founded on principles that we have not always fully lived up to, but each generation has bent the arc of the moral universe toward justice. This decision today is a step in the wrong direction: a step away from being a beacon of hope and opportunity to the world, and a step away from building a strong economy with the best and the brightest among us. It hurts our country, our Commonwealth, and our City."

Congresswoman Katherine Clark agreed, and asked Congress to protect those who might be impacted.

"Trump’s morally bankrupt decision to rip young people from their families, their schools, and the only home they’ve ever known is a sad betrayal of American values. DREAMers have stepped up to serve their country through academic success, military service, and a commitment to improving their communities. Their shot at the American Dream is integral to our country’s economic success. Congress should act immediately to protect DREAMers from this immoral and backward plan," she said.

Wu and Clark were among a number of those in office who pledged to stand with those who found security through DACA, as did the Party Democrats.

"Massachusetts Democrats – including our Senators, Congressional Delegation, and Attorney General Maura Healey – stand with the 7,934 DACA recipients in Massachusetts and the 800,000 across the nation who have long considered America home and have made great contributions to our economy, our society, and our communities," said Massachusetts Democratic Party Chair Gus Bickford.

Affected?

Attorney General Jeff Sessions blamed the previous Obama administration, which implemented the program, for executive overreach.

"The policy was implemented unilaterally to great controversy and legal concern after Congress rejected legislative proposals to extend similar benefits on numerous occasions to this same group of illegal aliens ... such an open-ended circumvention of immigration laws was an unconstitutional exercise of authority by the Executive Branch," Sessions said at a Tuesday press conference in Washington.

He went on to say, "If we are to further our goal of strengthening the constitutional order and the rule of law in America, the Department of Justice cannot defend this overreach."

Administration officials said no current DACA beneficiaries will be impacted before March 5, 2018 but they will not act on any new requests for DACA benefits after Tuesday — though renewal requests already in process and those filed by Oct. 5 will still be considered, officials said.

Want to Speak Up?:

"Everyone who knows in their gut that this is wrong, please call your Representatives and Senators," said Wu. "Make sure they understand how important it is to Boston, to Massachusetts, and to the country as a whole that we honor our promise and allow those who have known no other home but America to remain here safely," said Wu.

For the coalition's part, they pledged to pass along information and as free legal advice and referrals to any so-called Dreamers (named for a separate act that hasn't actually passed in Congress).

And they called others to join them at rallies, such as the one at 4 p.m. at Sam Adams Park outside Faneuil Hall, to show solidarity with those impacted.

Twitter

If you've been on Twitter at all, #DACA and #DreamAct were trending all day.

State Congresswoman:

Marty Walsh

Maura Healy on morality:

RELATED:

• Jeff Sessions: DACA Is Being Rescinded
• Newark Catholic Leader Decries DACA Decision,
• Dream Deferred: Austin Officials React To Trump's DACA
• North Carolina Groups Condemn Decision To End DACA

Photo: U.S. Sen. Edward Markey said he expects a "historic debate" about DACA on the Senate floor in Washington. Sam Doran/State House News Service