DACA Rescinded: Ohio Politicians Respond

LORAIN, OH — More than 800,000 undocumented immigrants will no longer be protected by DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Tuesday morning. DACA protected immigrants that arrived in the U.S. as children.

The decision to roll back protections for that group has been met with criticism from Ohio politicians Senator Sherrod Brown, Representative Marcy Kaptur and State Representative Dan Ramos, both Democrats. Both politicians released statements lambasting the rescinding of DACA-protections on Tuesday.

There are approximately 4,400 DACA-protected individuals (also called Dreamers by some politicians) in Ohio, according to the Center for American Progress. About 3,800 of those DACA-recipients are estimated to be in the Ohio workforce. (To stay up to date on local stories, subscribe to the Patch Avon-Avon Lake newsletter. As news breaks and the story develops, you will be the first to receive updates from Patch.)

"The President should not threaten the legal status of Dreamers. The United States is the only home many Dreamers have ever known,” said Kaptur in her statement. “If DACA is rescinded without a legislative fix, more families and communities will be ripped apart. Keeping families together is the right thing to do. Congress should act swiftly, in a bipartisan manner, to codify the DACA program into law.”

Starting on Wednesday, the administration will not accept any new applications for DACA. Registration in the program lasts for two years. Anyone whose registration expires in the next six months will have until Oct. 5 to apply for another two-year extension. But after DACA recipients' registrations expire outside the six-month window, they will not be able to reapply. This means, in part, that the hundreds of thousands of people who received work permits under the program will be forced to leave their jobs once their registrations expire.

"It is unconscionable for President Trump to end the DACA program, essentially calling for the deportation of well over 800,000 children and young adults who were raised here. America is the only home they’ve ever known. The America I know isn’t a nation where we punish children for their parents’ actions," Ramos said in a statement.

“President Trump promised to go after violent criminals, not innocent children,” said Brown in his own statement. “We should not be targeting young people who are working, going to school, paying taxes and contributing to this country - the country they grew up in and the only home they’ve ever known.”

Sessions blasted DACA policies during his announcement on Tuesday. During his remarks, Sessions described DACA as "executive amnesty" before adding that the U.S. "cannot admit everyone who would like to come here. It's just that simple."

In a statement issued from the White House Press Office after Session's press conference, Trump said, "I do not favor punishing children, most of whom are now adults, for the actions of their parents. But we must also recognize that we are nation of opportunity because we are a nation of laws."

Republican Representative for Ohio's 12th District, Pat Tiberi described DACA as "executive overreach" and said the decision to rescind the law was "good news."

Ramos responded by saying he would take action in the Ohio Legislature to protect DACA-recipients.

"This repeal is needlessly cruel, inhumane, and un-American. Congress must act swiftly to save these children who are, for all intents and purposes, American. I will introduce a resolution in the Ohio House this week, calling upon Congress to save the DACA program and immediately pass the bipartisan DREAM Act. I will also call upon the Ohio Congressional Delegation to support it," he said.

For more on the repeal of DACA, click here.

Other Ohio politicians took to Twitter to share their thoughts on the DACA repeal.

Image Jacquelyn Martin/Associated Press