DACA Decision to be Announced at 11:00 a.m. EDT

CONSTITUTIONAL OR NOT?

by Sharon Rondeau

(Sep. 5, 2017) — According to multiple news reports, Attorney General Jeff Sessions will be announcing the Trump administration’s decision on whether or not to continue DACA, a program instituted by executive action by Barack Hussein Obama just over five years ago.

The formal announcement can be viewed online at Breitbart and on mainstream television stations.

The program was controversial from the beginning, as it was implemented by executive action rather than by an act of Congress. However, some Republicans who voiced misgivings about the constitutionality of DACA in 2012 now support its continuation.

Eliminating the initiative was a campaign promise Trump made to his base, which desires stricter immigration enforcement.

Tuesday marks a deadline by which the administration was expected to respond or face a lawsuit from ten state attorneys general, although last week, Tennessee’s attorney general, Herbert Slattery III, withdrew from the lawsuit.

Over the Labor Day weekend, various major media reported that Trump reached a decision to allow DACA to expire within six months, giving Congress time to craft a law to address it.

DACA, or “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals,” protected approximately 800,000 individuals age 31 and younger who were brought to the United States by relatives before the age of 16. DACA participants had to apply, receive approval, and maintain clean criminal records in order to remain in the country.

The Obama regime has stated that DACA was not a “path to citizenship,” but the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) predicted, and U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley recently reported, that more than a thousand DACA enrollees have received U.S. citizenship from having been granted “advance parole,” in which they received permission to leave the US and then return as a lawfully-admitted person who could apply for US residency.

Update:  At 11:04 EDT, Sessions went to the podium and said that DACA is “being rescinded.”

He said that the executive branch committed an “unconstitutional exercise of congressional authority” in creating DACA and deprived Americans of jobs given to DACA participants.

Sessions said that it is his “duty to see that the laws of the United States are upheld” as well as the U.S. Constitution.  He said that the law should not be viewed through a political lens.

“The nation must set and enforce a limit on the number of immigrants” admitted to the country on an annual basis.

Sessions said that “imminent litigation” was a factor in producing the U.S. Justice Department’s conclusions announced today.  He added that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, having said that an Obama follow-on proposal, DAPA, was unconstitutional with the U.S. Supreme Court upholding that decision, DACA should be dismantled in an “orderly” manner.

Sessions did not invoke a “six-month” delay in rescinding DACA, as was reported by Politico on Saturday.

He said that the decision was made to further “constitutional order,” citing well-respected constitutional attorney Jonathan Turley, who testified to a Senate committee that DACA is unconstitutional.

Sessions said that the legislative branch should change immigration laws if they are found inadequate.  Sessions praised Trump for making aggressive efforts to enforce the borders and improve national security.

His remarks ended at 11:14 a.m.

On Twitter, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he “will sue” over the decision.