Nearly a quarter of a million DREAMers signed up for President Obama's 2012 program granting them temporary deportation relief and opportunities to attend college and obtain work permits. Donald Trump has promised to end that program, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), on Day 1 of his administration, and some DREAMers now fear they could also be targeted for deportation. Alicia A. Caldwell writes:
It's not clear whether he would take action against the more than 741,000 participants. But if he decides to pursue them, the government now has their addresses, photographs and fingerprints. [...]
Once he takes office, Trump can almost immediately rescind the promised protection and, with it, likely void the accompanying work permits.
But there is little to suggest that he would move swiftly to deport program participants. In a post-election interview with CBS' "60 Minutes," Trump said he would focus initially on criminal immigrants living illegally in the U.S. He said that could be about 2 million to 3 million people, though that figure is likely inflated.
That's a somewhat optimistic outlook, but the problem with Trump is, who knows? The guy's so erratic there's just no way to judge what will happen. As John Sandweg, a former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement who helped craft the program noted, "I don't think anyone envisioned a President Trump when this was created."
Sandweg said going after participants would be a massive logistical undertaking that would only worsen backlogs in an already overburdened immigration court system where many people wait years for a final decision.
Adding about 750,000 to the court system "would do nothing for public safety," Sandweg said.
Trump's direction will depend largely on who he picks to head the Department of Homeland Security. If Trump taps Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, we are in for a very rough ride.