Donald Trump Scraps 'Dreamers' Plan, Indian Immigrants fear Deportation
Thousands of people who arrived in the US illegally years ago are now facing chances of deportation, as President Donald Trump decided to repeal DACA programme, a South Asian Advocacy group said.
Deferred Action for Children Arrival (DACA) programme granted work permits to immigrants who arrived in the country illegally as children. This programme is now abolished by the trump government.
This move is likely to impact 8,00,000 undocumented workers, including more than 7,000 Indian-Americans. The number of people from India who arrived in the US illegally as children, is likely to be more than 20,000, according to an estimate carried out by South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT).
“Over 27,000 Asian Americans, including 5,500 Indians and Pakistanis, have already received DACA. An additional estimated 17,000 individuals from India and 6,000 from Pakistan respectively are eligible for DACA, placing India in the top ten countries for DACA eligibility,” SAALT said.
With the termination of DACA, individuals could face deportation at the discretion of the administration, it said.
“The President’s decision to terminate DACA puts 8,00,000 individuals at risk of deportation from the only country they’ve ever called home. Ending DACA is the latest evidence of this administration’s utter lack of commitment to our nation’s founding values of equality and fairness,” Suman Raghunathan, executive director of SAALT, said.
“This is the only way to align our immigration laws with the values Americans hold dear,” she said.
“As children, they did not choose to break the law. Most of these young men and women have never returned to the countries of their birth, and many do not even speak the language of their native countries. Rescinding DACA effectually takes away these young people’s right to live in the only country they have ever known,” Bagga said.
In the vast majority of cases, DACA recipients who are gainfully employed in a variety of professions, including as doctors, lawyers, and engineers, will now be not allowed to work legally in the United States.
-PTC News
