Larson Statement on the Trump Administration Decision to End DACA
Washington, D.C. – Today, Rep. John B. Larson (CT-01) released the following statement after Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the Trump Administration would be ending Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) by phasing the program out in 6 months.
"DREAMers were brought here as minors through no fault of their own, and have attended our schools, worked in our communities and have abided by the strict rules of the DACA program. Instead of supporting them, and allowing them to continue on a path towards citizenship, President Trump is stripping 800,000 young people of their legal status. In addition, this will have an enormous effect on our economy. There are 10,000 DACA recipients in CT. If these young people are no longer able to work, and contribute to the CT economy, we can expect an annual GDP loss of $315 million. This decision by the Trump Administration is unnecessary, cruel and harmful. Congress must act now to provide relief for DREAMers. I stand ready to work with my colleagues on a fix and call on Speaker Ryan to act quickly on a solution. I support the efforts of Senators Durbin and Graham in the Senate and its counterpart in the House introduced by Rep. Roybal-Allard. I plan on cosponsoring the Dream Act of 2017. We need to pass legislation to make DACA permanent for DREAMers," said Larson.
On August 1st, Larson joined over 100 colleagues on a letter urging President Trump to continue DACA. The letter can be viewed here.
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