In response to the President’s announcement today that he would end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals in six months, LA County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl issued the following statement:
It’s a sad day when the future of so many of this country’s finest young people is sacrificed to a marginal, mean-spirited group connected to the President’s far-right. Nationwide, the future of 800,000 young people is at stake, including their access to education, employment and their right to live in the country in which they’ve been raised. Nearly a quarter of a million of our DACA youth live in California, and half of those live in Southern California.
DACA is not only a humane policy, it is a smart policy. It has improved the lives of undocumented young people and their families and has also had a positive impact on the economy generally. Multiple studies from across the political spectrum have demonstrated that ending DACA would the cost the U.S. economy hundreds of billions of dollars.
Still, it’s primarily a matter of fairness and humanity. These young people have been here all their lives. They are, in every way, American kids. Now it falls to Congress to keep DACA in place until legislators can pass a DREAM Act or immigration reform bill that ensures that these hardworking young people can continue to pursue their aspirations and contribute to America’s future.
