
United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions “rescinded” the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Dreamers) program Tuesday, explaining that the policy was an “unconstitutional exercise of authority” by the Obama administration.
Th 'Dreamers' program protected approximately 800,000 illegal immigrants who arrived in the US as minors from deportation.
“The program known as DACA that was effectuated under the Obama administration is being rescinded,” Sessions said during a news conference.
The New York Post reports that Sessions said President Barack Obama’s administration created DACA by executive order in June 2012, while it should have been submitted for Congressional authorization.
“In other words, the executive branch, through DACA, deliberately sought to achieve what the legislative branch specifically refused to authorize on multiple occasions. Such an open-ended circumvention of immigration laws was an unconstitutional exercise of authority by the executive branch,” he said.
“This policy was implemented unilaterally to great controversy and legal concern after Congress rejected legislative proposals to extend similar benefits on numerous occasions to this same group of illegal aliens,” he added.
The Trump administration will allow DACA to continue for another six months to allow Congress to act on the program. The action could lead to the deportation of about 800,000 people, known as “Dreamers,” if Congress does not preserve the program.