DACA decision could be a key issue in districts represented by vulnerable California Republicans

Sept. 5, 2017 8:27 AM PT

2018 electionCalifornia in CongressCongressional races
Sept. 5, 2017, 8:27 a.m. Reporting from Washington

DACA decision could be a key issue in districts represented by vulnerable California Republicans

A woman holds a sign in support of the Obama administration program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, during an immigration reform rally on Aug. 15, 2017, at the White House. (Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press)

Now that President Trump is putting what should happen to the “Dreamers” on Congress’ agenda, vulnerable Republicans will be squarely at the center of the debate.

The Trump administration’s announcement Tuesday about the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program could have a broad effect on Democratic efforts to retake control of the House in 2018, and nowhere more so than in California, where more than a fourth of the estimated 800,000 recipients, often called Dreamers, are thought to live.

To secure the 24 seats they need, Democrats are specifically targeting nine of the Golden State’s 14 Republican members of Congress, several of whom represent districts with large minority populations. Stories of the 200,000 or so Californians affected by this decision likely will be a recurring theme of campaigns for the next year.

Nearly all of the targeted Republicans have opposed DACA, which delayed deportation for hundreds of thousands of Californians in the country illegally. Just two of the GOP lawmakers with districts that could flip in the midterms have publicly tried to persuade the president to leave DACA in place.