Chicago — In response to President Trump’s decision to terminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program (DACA), the Hellenic American Leadership Council (HALC) called for immediate legislative action with the full support of the Trump Administration to replace DACA.
“The manner in which the Administration is dismantling DACA in a manner that undermines both American values and American economic interests,” said Endy Zemenides, Executive Director of HALC. “As Speaker Ryan noted, DACA beneficiaries are ‘kids who know no other country who were brought here by their parents and don’t know another home’. They have become contributors to American society and even considering deporting them is particularly cruel. Moreover, as a study by CATO has indicated, deporting these Dreamers would not benefit American workers, but would cost the American economy up to $200 billion over the next decade.”
HALC, whose membership is disproportionately made up of children and grandchildren of immigrants, has been active in coalitions of civic groups that has supported comprehensive immigration reform.
“We have previously supported the Dream Act, and now call on Congress to immediately bring the Dream Act of 2017 (S.1615/H.R.3440) to vote immediately,” said Zemenides. “President Trump has to go beyond calling on Congress to ‘legalize’ DACA and explicitly support legislation that cures his Administration’s legal objections to DACA.”