Trump Ends DACA

Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced recently that the Trump administration will be rescinding the Obama administration’s attempts to sidestep congress after “we surrrender” style comprehensive immigration reform failed. The reaction was predictable as Trump fufilled another major campaign promise. In fact, ending DACA was a component of promise #5 in Trump’s now famous Arizona speech that he gave after meeting with the President with Mexico. The specific promise made was to cancel unconstitutional executive orders and enforce all immigration laws. Regardless of what happens next, this was the right move. The only real debate for immigration restrictionists and enthusiasts is whether the Trump administration rescinding DACA will get them closer or farther from their stated goal. This is a discussion that really is not being had right now because so much of our discourse is dominated by pot shots rather than solid or prudent political analysis. One argument was that Trump should not have rescinded DACA since it was not legally required. This is a strange point to make. DACA was never meant to be a stand alone order. It was paired with another non-enforcement order called DAPA, which has never truly been litigated on it’s merits. You can read more about that here. Similarly, it was never required for DACA to be fully rescinded. In fact, former President Obama said as much in his facebook post with regards to the end of DACA. The quote I am referring to appeared in the sixth paragraph of Obama’s facebook post when he said “Let’s be clear: the action taken today wasn’t required legally.” He is correct; however, I would add that Presidents take oaths of office that they will to the best of their ability “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States” even if DACA and DAPA are constitutional because congress gives the executive branch a lot of leeway in how they want to enforce immigration laws, I still celebrate the fact that Trump’s administration rescinded the order. It isn’t wise for Immigration policy to be written solely by one branch of government save for “quick fix” administrative situations.