Lobbying

Biden: Trump’s DACA decision ‘cruel’

by Rafael Bernal - 09/05/17 1:22 PM ET

Former Vice President Joe Biden said on Twitter Tuesday that President Trump’s decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program is “cruel.”

“Brought by parents, these children had no choice in coming here. Now they’ll be sent to countries they’ve never known. Cruel. Not America,” he tweeted.

Brought by parents, these children had no choice in coming here. Now they’ll be sent to countries they’ve never known. Cruel. Not America.

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) September 5, 2017

{mosads}Biden joined a mounting chorus of activists, business leaders and politicians from both sides of the aisle who questioned Trump’s decision.

Under DACA, nearly 800,000 undocumented immigrants brought into the country as minors received deferred deportation and were allowed to apply for a work permit.

The decision to rescind the program came on the day of a Texas-imposed deadline to contest its legality in court.

The administration gave six months to wind down the program, essentially punting the future of its recipients to Congress.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the decision, saying the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) would “begin an orderly, lawful wind down, including the cancellation of the memo that authorized this program.”

DHS officials said current recipients would be allowed to keep their benefits through the two-year period granted in their DACA permits.

“As related to current DACA holders, [U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services] will not terminate the grants of previously issued deferred action nor revoke employment authorization documents, solely based on the directives in this memorandum, for the remaining duration of the validity period of those DACA holders,” said a senior DHS official.

The program was President Barack Obama’s signature immigration program, which he started through an executive order in 2012 after Congress failed to pass comprehensive immigration reform or the Dream Act, a bill that would essentially codify DACA benefits.

Trump promised to end DACA on the campaign trail, but later said he would treat so-called Dreamers — undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children — “with heart.”

Biden last week wrote an op-ed in The Atlantic, where he lashed out against Trump’s leadership on racial issues following the violent white supremacist protests in Charlottesville, Va.

“We have an American president who has emboldened white supremacists with messages of comfort and support,” wrote Biden.