About 150 people gathered at the Uptown Circle in Normal Tuesday to protest the Trump administration's decision to rescind DACA.It stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program established by President Obama via an executive order to prevent the deportation of those brought to the US illegally while under the age of 16.
The action won't begin for 6 months. In that time, congress--should the choose--can make a new law to create a pathway to citizenship for these 800,000 or so young people.
The rally, organized by Illinois Peoples Action, featured DACA participants, an immigration attorney, a priest and others. The ralliers then marched to Congressman Rodney Davis's office to request congressional action to protect DACA and those in the program.
Representative Davis issued this statement:
“Our immigration system is broken and it cannot be fixed simply by circumventing Congress and legislating through the Executive Branch as attempted by the Obama administration. We need stronger border protections and enforcement measures, which the House has already started to address. However, part of this broken immigration system includes people who were brought here illegally as children through no fault of their own and for many of them, America is the only country they have ever known. President Obama said himself in 2012 that DACA was never meant to be a permanent fix. Now, President Trump has provided a timeline for Congress to address this issue and I hope together we can find a permanent, bipartisan solution that balances compassion and lawfulness.”
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