AMERICA/UNITED STATES - Bishops on the end of DACA: "A decision that is reprehensible and heartbreaking"

Wednesday, 6 September 2017 street children   migrants   childhood   politics  

Washington (Agenzia Fides) - The US Episcopal Conference quickly responded to the Trump administration’s decision to put an end to a program implemented under President Barack Obama which aimed at protecting the so-called young "dreamers" from expulsion, defining the move as "reprehensible" and "heartbreaking".
The program called "Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals - DACA" had created a temporary shield for nearly 800,000 undocumented youngsters and young adults who had come to the United States as a child and who, thanks to the DACA program, managed to complete higher education and work legally.
Responding to the decision to put an end to the program, the Bishops wrote: "Today, our nation has done the opposite of how Scripture calls us to respond. It is a step back from the progress that we need to make as a country".
The statement was signed by Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, USCCB president; Los Angeles Archbishop José H. Gómez, USCCB vice president; Bishop Joe S. Vásquez of Austin, Texas, chairman of the Committee on Migration; and Bishop Joseph J. Tyson of Yakima, Washington, chairman of the Subcommittee on Pastoral Care of Migrants, Refugees, and Travelers.
The Bishops said that the decision by the Trump administration announced by Attorney General Jeff Sessions is a "heartbreaking moment in our history that shows the absence of mercy and goodwill, and a short-sighted vision for the future". (CE) (Agenzia Fides, 06/09/2017)


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