Prayer Vigil At Statehouse For Dreamers

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Columbia, SC (WOLO)– The Trump Administration said it plans to end DACA giving Congress six months to legislate a solution. Attorney general Jeff Sessions made the announcement Tuesday morning. Approximately 800 thousand undocumented immigrants are currently living in the US, under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
The 2012 Obama ruling deferred deportations for those who came to the US as young immigrants.

“That really hit, and was really scary in that moment and to hear from them and realize… we’ve been anticipating this, and yet today it’s feeling very scary and real,” Christine Burke said, an immigration policy community organizer with SC Appleseed Legal Justice Center.

The decision from President Trump could affect more than 800 thousand young adults. According to Dr. Roth from USC, he says more than 6,400 South Carolina youths could lose their protections by March 2018.

“And the scary thing for Dreamers is that none of them, because they have DACA, is a felon. They are not people who are criminally engaged, otherwise, they wouldn’t be eligible for DACA. They’re able to get DACA because they are contributing members of society,” Dr. Roth said. 

“We would lose $252 million in GDP South Carolina alone if DACA workers were not allowed to work anymore. As well as the cost of actually detaining and deporting them is very astronomical. But the human element of it. These are people in our communities. They add so much to our communities, our schools, our congregations, our community groups and we want them here to stay,” Julie Edwards said, a protester. 

The announcement says it will not revoke any DACA permit before it expires and will continue to renew permits for those with ones that will expire in the next six months, giving Congress time to decide act, but still leaving some in confusion.

“The compassionate thing to do, is in the lawlessness, enforce our laws. And if Congress chooses to make changes to those laws, to do so by the process set forth by our founders. In a way that advances the interest of the American people,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said. 

“And so I’ve spoken to a person who has eight months left on their permit. They won’t qualify for renewal. That means in eight months they could lose their job, and lose their driver’s license, and everything that goes with the legal status, the protection they have with DACA,” Burke said. 

Trump said the decision is up to Congress of how they want to move forward and here at the prayer vigil, that gives them hope.

“There’s so much hope. We are fighting for the DREAM Act. Senator Lindsey Graham, our senator, is one of the sponsors of the dream act, along with Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Ill. Bipartisan support. I have so much hope and that’s absolutely the purpose of our vigil tonight,” Burke said. 

Dr. Roth says this is just the beginning of a different conversation about the rights of these young people and it’s a real call to action.