Donald Trump ends DACA - What this means for 20,000 Indian immigrants in the US

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Donald Trump ends DACA - What this means for 20,000 Indian immigrants in the US
President Donald Trump's recent decision to end DACA - an Obama-era amnesty program that granted work permits to immigrants who arrived in the country illegally as children - has thrown thousands of Indian immigrants in the US in a tizzy.
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With the termination of DACA, they are at a risk of facing deportation at the discretion of the administration.

The historic move is likely to impact 800,000 undocumented workers, including more than 20,000 Indian-Americans who trusted the US government with their fingerprints and other personal information when they applied for DACA.

The announcement, which was anticipated for the past few days, was greeted with protests from across the country. It is being seen as hampering US' founding values of equality and fairness. Rescinding DACA, protesters feel, takes away young people's right to live in the only country they have ever known.

As per estimates according to non-profit organisation South Asian Americans Leading Together - "Over 27,000 Asian Americans, including 5,500 Indians and Pakistanis, have already received DACA. An additional estimated 17,000 individuals from India and 6,000 from Pakistan respectively are eligible for DACA, placing India in the top ten countries for DACA eligibility."

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SAALT is a national, nonpartisan, non-profit organization that fights for racial justice and advocates for the civil rights of all South Asians in the US.

Even as the Trump administration says no current beneficiaries of the programme would be affected before March 5, 2018, but after this period, DACA recipients including Indian-Americans, who are gainfully employed in a variety of professions, including as doctors, lawyers, and engineers, will be unable to work legally in the US.

Many DACA beneficiaries are also worrying about the fact that they will be forced to take lower wage and under-the-table jobs, and will be unable to pay for college or assist their families financially.

DACA - Trump versus Obama

The action to repeal DACA was announced not by Trump but by Jeff Sessions, his attorney general, yesterday who called this program an unconstitutional overreach by Obama. There will be an “orderly, lawful wind-down,” Sessions said.

Trump later issued a written statement saying that “I do not favour punishing children, most of whom are now adults, for the actions of their parents. But we must also recognise that we are (a) nation of opportunity because we are a nation of laws.”
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Immigrant advocates, mayors, governors, Democratic lawmakers, unions, civil liberties advocates and business leaders, including the chief executives of Apple and Microsoft, clergy and many others put intense pressure on Trump to maintain the programme but he decided against it.

Going all out against Obama, Trump denounced his program as an “amnesty-first approach” toward illegal immigrants and pressed his nationalist “America First” message, saying that despite concerns voiced by his critics about the fate of the Dreamers, “Above all else, we must remember that young Americans have dreams too.”

Without wasting time, Obama hit back calling Trump’s action a political decision, defending DACA’s legality and urging Congress to protect Dreamers.

“This is about young people who grew up in America - kids who study in our schools, young adults who are starting careers, patriots who pledge allegiance to our flag. These Dreamers are Americans in their hearts, in their minds, in every single way but one: on paper,” Obama said.

Amid all the mudslinging, it's now up to the Congress to take up and pass a legislation helping the DACA beneficiaries.
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