Press Release
Contact:
Daniella Burgi-Palomino, Senior Associate
(202) 546 71010 | dburgipalomino@lawg.org
September 5, 2017
LAWG Strongly Opposes President’s Decision to end DACA, Urges Congress to Pass Dream Act of 2017 NOW
Washington, D.C.—Today, the Latin America Working Group (LAWG) released a statement condemning President Donald Trump’s decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in six months. In the statement, LAWG also urges Congress to “act immediately to pass the bipartisan Dream Act of 2017,” and exhorts the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to “protect [Dreamers] from apprehension and deportation in the coming months of uncertainty.”
“Today, the President has attacked the very notion of the American dream that this country was built on. By ending the DACA program in six months, the President places the lives of these young people in uncertainty and fuels his anti-immigrant and anti-refugee agenda. We urge Congress to pass the overdue Dream Act of 2017 immediately and allow these members of our communities to continue living and contributing to our country as they have been for so many years,” stated Daniella Burgi-Palomino, Senior Associate for Mexico, Migrant Rights, and Border Issues.
In the statement, LAWG notes that “there is widespread support to continue the program, not only from Democratic and Republic members of the Congress, but also from the business and faith communities.” The organization also warns that the “eventual implementation of this decision could undermine U.S. foreign policy interests in Latin America that aim to promote security and prosperity.”
###
