Notecard Blog Post: 9/18/17

President Donald Trump recently ended a program that allows children of undocumented immigrants to remain in the United States.

First, a history lesson. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is an immigration policy established by the Obama administration in 2012. It allows for hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants to remain in the country. Individuals are able to request DACA status if they were under 31-years-old on June 15, 2012, came to the U.S. before turning 16, and have continuously lived in the country since June 15, 2007. They must also have a high school diploma, GED, been honorably discharged from the military or still be in school. They can’t have a criminal record.

According to Fox News, if Trump decides to phase out the DACA program, this would affect nearly 800,000 undocumented youth. Many people would lose their jobs and many families would be separated. It also affects a large amount of the population of people who were not involved in the decision to move to the United States.

One thing I find particularly interesting is Trump considers himself pro-life. I believe that he should reconsider this decision to end DACA.

Pope Francis said it best here, “The President of the United States presents himself as a pro-life and if he is a good pro-lifer, he understands that family is the cradle of life and its unity must be protected.”