This morning on the click-through: Trump’s DACA decision, how congressional Republicans have wrought the controversy surrounding DACA, and the flawed logic that supposes disasters help the economy.
The Stay Is Over
On Tuesday, the Trump administration announced the president’s decision to rescind the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) executive order. The DACA rescission is good policy, putting an end to the five years of functional amnesty for many who were brought to the U.S. as minors by their illegal-immigrant parents. The number of illegal immigrants in the U.S. given deferred status under DACA tops 800,000, and fixing the errant executive order has been a promise of Trump’s since his campaign — and one many conservatives support wholeheartedly.
In the administration’s statement, Attorney General Jeff Sessions offered another reason to rescind DACA:
The Department of Justice cannot defend this overreach,” Sessions said. “There is nothing compassionate about the failure to enforce immigration laws. Enforcing the law saves lives, protects communities and taxpayers, and prevents human suffering. Failure to enforce the laws in the past has put our nation at risk of crime, violence and even terrorism. The compassionate thing is to end the lawlessness, (and) enforce our laws.”
Tuesday night, however, Trump tweeted that he plans to revisit his executive action should Congress fail to pass legislation that replaces DACA:
Congress now has 6 months to legalize DACA (something the Obama Administration was unable to do). If they can't, I will revisit this issue!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 6, 2017
Wonderful.