The Trump Administration is rescinding the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, it was announced Sept. 5.
The rescission “places an estimated 800,000 undocumented immigrants, many of whom were brought to the United States as young children and have known no other home, under threat of deportation and losing permits that allow them to work,” according to Catholic News Service.
Catholic leaders were quick to decry the decision. The president and other members of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in a statement called the cancellation of the program “reprehensible.” The Executive Director of the New York State Catholic Conference said in a statement, “The Catholic Church in New York State stands with the Dreamers, and we urge our Congressional representatives to take the lead in delivering a bill to President Trump’s desk, so that he can fulfill an earlier promise to deal with this issue with ‘great heart.’”
Bishop Robert J. Cunningham has released a video message addressing the rescission, calling the action to curtail the program “extremely disappointing” and noting, “We’ve been a country that’s always welcomed the immigrant, the refugee, the migrant.”
Watch his message in full below, courtesy Syracuse Catholic Television.
