Leaders of five California education systems urge Congress to continue protecting immigrant students
Sept. 5, 2017, 4:10 p.m.
Leaders of five California education systems urge Congress to continue protecting immigrant students
Leaders of five California education systems joined forces Tuesday to urge Congress to extend protections against deportations for young immigrants who entered the United States as children.
President Trump announced Tuesday that he would phase out the Obama-era policy, called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, that postponed deportations of nearly 800,000 young immigrants who were brought to the country illegally or fell out of legal status before age 16.
“We are deeply disappointed by President Trump’s callous and misguided decision to effectively end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program,” the leaders wrote in a letter to the California congressional delegation. “This is a step backward for our nation — a nation built by immigrants. It unnecessarily punishes hundreds of thousands of bright young people who were brought to this country as children and are contributing members of American society. America is their home and today’s action will not only derail futures, but it will deprive California and the nation of the promise and potential DACA participants possess.”
The letter was signed by University of California President Janet Napolitano, California State University Chancellor Timothy White, California Community Colleges Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley, California Supt. of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson and Kristen Soares, president of the Assn. of Independent California Colleges and Universities.
In a separate letter to the majority and minority leaders in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, Napolitano urged bipartisan action, reminding them that young people who received DACA benefits had undergone “exhaustive background investigations to ensure they are not a security threat,” completed high school-level educations and had not been convicted of felonies or major misdemeanors.
Napolitano, who served as secretary of Homeland Security in the Obama administration from 2009 to 2013, was one of the architects of the DACA policy.
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