With yet another bipartisan immigration deal on its way to the Congressional scrap heap, the clock is really ticking on Congress to figure out a way to legislate DACA before President Trump’s self-imposed deadline that ends protections for those in the program. During an impromptu interview at the White House, Chief of Staff John Kelly piled on by saying it was doubtful that President Trump would extend the DACA protections while also saying some of the Dreamers were too “lazy” to sign up.
According to Kelly, President Trump surprised even his own staff when he suggested a path to citizenship for Dreamers who weren’t actually enrolled in DACA. Speaking to the press, Kelly said Trump’s comments were “stunning and no one expected” them:
“There are 690,000 official DACA registrants and the president sent over what amounts to be two and a half times that number, to 1.8 million. The difference between [690,000] and 1.8 million were the people that some would say were too afraid to sign up, others would say were too lazy to get off their asses, but they didn’t sign up.”
According to immigration reform advocates, the people who did not sign up for DACA after the program started likely did not meet age or education requirements or could not afford the application fees. In addition, they may have feared giving personal information to the federal government, possibly because of concerns that they would be deported.
(Via Washington Post)