Kasich: It should take 6 hours to fix DACA, not 6 months
Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican, is blasting President Trump’s decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that protected hundreds of thousands of young people from deportation and give Congress six months to extend or replace it.
“It should take, like, six hours to get this done,” Kasich said on “CBS This Morning” on Wednesday. “They ought to be able to stay here.”
On Tuesday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that Trump had ordered the DACA program phased out. Then-President Barack Obama implemented the program in 2012 to provide work permits to about 800,000 undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as young children.
“Imagine if you were one of them, if you were one of these young people striving to be a part of America and make something of yourself and all of the sudden somebody tells you that one day you may be deported to a country they know nothing about,” Kasich said. “We want them in America.”
The Republican governor continued: “Think about this: This is the United States of America and we’re putting kids, young people who are contributors, in jeopardy. This is not the America we all love.”
Kasich, who lost his bid for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, had a message for the so-called DREAMers potentially affected by Trump’s decision.
“Come to Ohio,” Kasich said. “We want all the immigrants to come to Ohio because we know how much they contribute to America. I wouldn’t be in America if it wasn’t for immigration.”
Kasich joins a chorus of mostly Democratic lawmakers who are speaking out against Trump’s approach.
On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called the decision “heartless” and said Democrats would “do everything we can to prevent President Trump’s terribly wrong order from becoming reality.”
In a statement, Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who had said that Trump should not end DACA, said it is now his “hope” that Congress can come up with “a permanent legislative solution that includes ensuring that those who have done nothing wrong can still contribute as a valued part of this great country.”
Obama also released a lengthy statement rebutting the Trump administration’s rationale for rescinding the program.
“Let’s be clear: the action taken today isn’t required legally,” Obama said. “It’s a political decision, and a moral question. Whatever concerns or complaints Americans may have about immigration in general, we shouldn’t threaten the future of this group of young people who are here through no fault of their own, who pose no threat, who are not taking away anything from the rest of us.”
— With Yahoo News Liz Goodwin contributing reporting.
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