WASHINGTON, DC—Today marks the sixth anniversary of the creation of the DACA program by President Obama in 2012. In response, Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva issued the following statement:

“The DACA program changed the lives of over 800,000 young immigrants and helped them go to school, get jobs, and fully participate in their communities. Despite its many benefits, President Trump abruptly ended the program 10 months ago and heartlessly plunged the lives of Dreamers into limbo. Trump created this problem and effectively killed every bipartisan legislative solution—even as he hypocritically professed a desire to help Dreamers.

“Now, it is congressional Republicans who are playing games. They failed to follow through with the discharge petition procedure that would have brought the clean DREAM Act and a bipartisan solution to the floor for a vote, and caved to the far-right faction of the party by prioritizing votes on two pieces of radical anti-immigrant legislation.

“The Goodlatte/McSally bill and the Republican ‘compromise’ are complete nonstarters. They do nothing more than fulfill the Trump Administration’s hardliner wish list that does little to protect Dreamers, further militarizes border communities, and makes drastic cuts to legal immigration numbers. If Trump and his complicit Republican enablers in Congress truly cared about Dreamers, he would simply reinstate the DACA program instead of subjecting them to ridiculous political games.”

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