WASHINGTON — Rep. Mia Love (R-Utah) is imploring her colleagues to get back to the negotiating table and forge a solution to save Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals beneficiaries as President Trump, who once vowed to “resolve the DACA issue with heart and compassion,” declared that “DACA is dead.”
Trump rescinded the Obama-era program in September and gave Congress a deadline that has since passed to find a legislative solution. DACA renewals are still being processed by court order.
The White House wanted riders attached to a DACA deal, including border wall funding, ending most family reunification and ending the visa lottery.
“Border Patrol Agents are not allowed to properly do their job at the Border because of ridiculous liberal (Democrat) laws like Catch & Release. Getting more dangerous. ‘Caravans’ coming. Republicans must go to Nuclear Option to pass tough laws NOW. NO MORE DACA DEAL!” he tweeted on Easter. The “caravan” refers to an annual movement of hundreds of Central American migrants, organized by activists, up through Mexico; the group was stopped in Oaxaca and is being processed by Mexican immigration authorities.
“These big flows of people are all trying to take advantage of DACA. They want in on the act!” Trump also tweeted on Easter, though the current DACA program only applies to people brought to the country illegally as children who have been continuously in the United States since before 2007.
“DACA is dead because the Democrats didn’t care or act, and now everyone wants to get onto the DACA bandwagon… No longer works. Must build Wall and secure our borders with proper Border legislation. Democrats want No Borders, hence drugs and crime!” Trump tweeted Monday.
Love said in a statement Tuesday that Trump’s recent statements dooming DACA “are disheartening and unacceptable.”
“In Congress, many of us have worked in good faith for months to bring forward legislation that addresses each of the president’s initial priorities, including strong border security and certainty for DACA recipients. He must not go back on those priorities. The American people were promised solutions and have waited far too long for action,” she said. “Congress cannot abdicate its responsibility to craft immigration policy to the White House any longer.”
“We must act now to address and solve these critical issues. Several viable bills already exist in the House. That’s why I have cosponsored H.Res. 774, which would allow a vote on several competing immigration bills. This gives us the best chance of passing one of these proposals.”
Love urged GOPs “to allow floor action in the very near future” and promised to “continue to work with members from both parties on legislative solutions to these pressing problems.”
Love is a co-sponsor of Rep. Will Hurd’s (R-Texas) bipartisan Uniting and Securing America (USA) Act, which allows DACA beneficiaries to stay and provides border security measures other than a wall.
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