Dems push Obama to use pardon power to prevent deportations

Democrats are amplifying their calls for President Obama to pardon undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children and protect them from the threat of deportation under President-elect Donald Trump.

In a second letter in less than a month, this time with 60 signatures, Democrats asked Obama to immediately take action.

{mosads}Lawmakers say their last letter was misinterpreted as a call to provide legal status to the participants of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which granted two-year work permits to recipients and deferred deportations actions.

“We clearly understand such a pardon will not grant legal status and that is not the intent of our request,” said Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Calif.).

“We are simply asking the president to protect the nearly 750,000 DACA recipients who are living in fear of immediate deportation because they trusted our government.”

In a statement, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) backed party calls for Obama to take action.

“Today, thousands of young dreamers are stuck in a terrible limbo, left to dread the possibility of President Trump deporting them from the only home they have ever known,” she said.

“These young people are American in every way but on paper, and all they have asked for is the opportunity to live, work and contribute to the country they love.”

Pelosi expressed concern about handing the personal information of DACA recipients to an incoming administration that “made intimidation and hateful statements against immigrants a hallmark of the campaign.”

“President Obama should use every possible measure to protect our dreamers and their data,” she said.

“House Democrats will continue to stand behind our young dreamers and we will continue to fight for the comprehensive immigration reform our nation so urgently needs.”

Trump has promised to rescind all of Obama’s executive orders, including the one that established the DACA program.

Yet Trump, who was named Time’s Person of the Year on Wednesday, told the magazine he would like to find some future accommodation for people in the program.

“We’re going to work something out that’s going to make them happy and proud,” he said.

Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-Ill.) said Trump’s remarks to Time show the Democratic message is breaking through.

“Let’s keep the pressure up,” he said. “I say to President Obama, he says he wants to work something out. Well, guess what? You work it out for him because you are the president of the United States and you asked them to join this program. You use your power of pardon and pardon them.’”

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, said undocumented children are just one group of people who have been denied relief by Republicans in the form of immigration reform.

“These young people stepped forward when President Obama announced DACA. They took a risk. They have their names, they gave their addresses, they gave their fingerprints, they trusted the president and they received temporary relief,” she said. “We don’t know what President Trump will do, but I take him at his word and he says he’s going to repeal all of the executive orders and put these young people who trusted Obama at risk.”

Obama has commuted the sentences of over 1,000 federal prisoners — mostly those serving time for non-violent drug offenses — but has only pardoned 70 people since taking office.

Updated at 1:52 p.m.