Los Angeles politicians on Tuesday criticized the Trump administration’s decision to scrap protections for young men and women in the United States without legal status and urged Congress to pass legislation to aid so-called “Dreamers.”
Los Angles County supervisors Hilda Solis and Janice Hahn and L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti rallied downtown to join supporters of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
The program, put in place by then-President Obama, shields those brought to the country illegally as children from being deported.
Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions said Tuesday that the administration will phase out DACA beginning in six months, a move that pushes the issue to Congress.
Sessions’ announcement marked “one of those dark days in our history,” said Solis, whose district includes many immigrant communities, including El Monte and Boyle Heights.
Solis called on Republican leaders supportive of DACA to take action. “Now more than ever we need them. We need Sen. Lindsay Graham,” she said.
Graham, of South Carolina, along with Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) reintroduced the Dream Act in July to allow immigrant students a path to legal residence and eventual citizenship.
Garcetti talked about his grandfather, who was brought to the U.S. from Mexico as a baby.
“I couldn’t be the mayor of this incredible city if I hadn’t had the courage of a dreamer behind me in my family,” Garcetti said.
Mayor Garcetti responds to Trump administration ending DACA program.
A study by the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute found one in every four DACA participants lives in California.
Sessions said that Obama’s action in creating DACA went beyond his legal authority and was an “unconstitutional exercise of authority by the executive branch.”
Several Republican state attorneys general have also threatened to challenge the program in court.
Solis and Hahn planned to introduce a motion at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors’ meeting to demand that Congress find a solution for DACA recipients and to urge state Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra to protect them.
The motion also would bar county employees from traveling to any of the nine states that have threatened to sue the Trump administration over DACA.
“They threatened legal action,” Solis said. “Well, guess what we’re going to say? We’re going to say that the county of Los Angeles shouldn’t do business [with those states].”
Hahn became emotional when describing one of her staffers who has benefited from DACA, calling him “just as American as I am. And he belongs here, with his family, with his friends, as much as I do.”
Francia Cruz, a sociology student at East Los Angeles College, said she has been employed ever since enrolling in DACA in 2012.
“DACA has allowed me to come out of the shadows, where I hid for a long time because of fear and rejection,” she said. “I refuse to go back into hiding under Trump’s administration — under any administration, for that matter.”
In Spanish, she urged those worried about the future of DACA to stay organized and to keep fighting.
“The community that is united will never be defeated,” she said.
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Victoria Sandoval, 22, left, of Los Angeles, a DACA recipient, is consoled by sister Maria Sandoval, 20, a U.S. citizen, while protesters gathered at City Hall to demonstrate against changes in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 2/24
Javier Ortega, 23, of Los Angeles takes part in the City Hall protest.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 3/24
Demonstrators at Los Angeles City Hall.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 4/24
Bonny Gonzalez, 22, left, of Hawthorne and Hewdy Pego, 21, of San Pedro at the downtown Los Angeles protest.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 5/24
Rosa Pimentel, 20, of Hollywood joins the demonstration.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 6/24
DACA protesters gather at the intersection of Temple and Spring streets in downtown Los Angeles.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times) 7/24
Docnary Reyes, 21, joins other protesters in downtown Los Angeles to denounce the Trump administration’s move to phase out protections for DACA unless Congress acts on a plan.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 8/24
Members of the Service Employees International Union gather with other protesters at the L.A. County Hall of Administration to protest the possible phasing out of the DACA program.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 9/24
Service Employees International Union members arrive by bus to join protesters in downtown Los Angeles denouncing the decision to possibly phase out the DACA program.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 10/24
Jose Torres attends the DACA protest in downtown Los Angeles.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times) 11/24
The Rev. Thomas Carey hugs DACA student Maria Jose Vides of La Puente after a news conference in front of the Hall of Administration in Los Angeles.
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 12/24
Guisell Flores Martinez, 43, cries as she video tapes speeches about DACA during a press conference, in front of the Hall of Administration in Los Angeles.
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 13/24
Protesters gather at Trump Tower in New York in opposition to the announcement by President Trump that the DACA will end.
(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 14/24
Gloria Mendoza, age 26, is a Dreamer. She is originally from Mexico City and took part in the protests at Trump Tower in New York.
(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 15/24
Activists protesting the Trump administration’s decision on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals are arrested by New York City Police officers after sitting in the street and blocking traffic on 5th Avenue near Trump Tower.
(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 16/24
Immigration activists protesting the Trump administration’s decision on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals are arrested by New York City Police officers as they sit in the street and block traffic on 5th Avenue near Trump Tower.
(Drew Angerer / Getty Images) 17/24
An immigrant holds a sign reading “GOP you killed our dreams”, as immigrants and supporters rally after President Trump ordered an end to DACA in Los Angeles.
(David McNew / Getty Images) 18/24
Immigrants and supporters rally after President Trump ordered an end to DACA in Los Angeles.
(David McNew / Getty Images) 19/24
From left, Paola Soria and Karla Collaguazo, both 20 and ‘dreamers’ originally from Ecuador, listen to Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ remarks on ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program on a smartphone before a protest in Grand Army Plaza in Manhattan.
(Drew Angerer / Getty Images) 20/24
Attorney General Jeff Sessions speaks during a news conference at the Justice Department on President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA program.
(Susan Walsh / Associated Press) 21/24
Immigration activists protesting the Trump administration’s decision on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program sit in the street and block traffic on 5th Avenue near Trump Tower.
(Drew Angerer / Getty Images) 22/24
A person holds up a sign in support of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, known as DACA, and Temporary Protected Status programs during a rally in support of DACA and TPS outside of the White House.
(Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press) 23/24
Rosemary Segero, of Washington, who is originally from Kenya, rallies in support of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, outside of the White House. President Donald Trump’s administration will “wind down” a program protecting hundreds of thousands of young immigrants who were brought into the country illegally as children, Attorney General Jeff Sessions declared Tuesday.
(Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press) 24/24
Immigrants and supporters demonstrate during a rally in support of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in front of the White House. President Donald Trump has rescinded the program, ending amnesty for 800,000 young immigrants brought to the US illegally as minors and who are largely integrated into US society.
(ERIC BARADAT / AFP/Getty Images) [email protected]
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