Speaking at Burlington International Airport on Tuesday before he boarded a flight to Washington, D.C., Welch said he plans to urge his colleagues to restore the program. Vermont’s two senators said this week they agree that Congress should take action, as did Gov. Phil Scott.
DACA, enacted by president Barack Obama in 2012, has given legal protections to nearly 800,000 undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children.
“This is the height of cruelty,” Welch said of Trump’s promise to phase out the program. “The only country they’ve ever known … is right here in the United States of America.”
In a phone interview from the nation’s capital Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) echoed the sentiment. He accused Trump of opposing every policy Obama supported because he’s jealous that his predecessor was more popular.
Nevertheless, Leahy said he interprets this Trump decision as half-hearted. He pointed to the fact that the president tasked Attorney General Jeff Sessions with formally announcing the end of DACA on Tuesday — and that Trump has indicated Congress could reverse his decision.
“He’s gotten so much pushback on this that he sends out the attorney general on this and then the attorney general, of course, refuses to take questions,” Leahy said.
A day earlier, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) savaged the president over reports that he would announce an end to DACA. At a Labor Day event in Manchester, N.H., the senator called Trump’s plan “one of the most cruel and ugly decisions ever made in the modern history of this country by a president.”
Scott, a Republican, also denounced Trump’s decision in a statement Tuesday. “It is my hope Congress will take action and continue this policy, which I believe provides long-term benefits to American culture, the economy and the prosperity of our country,” the governor said.
At Tuesday’s press conference, Welch speculated that Republicans in Congress might support reinstating DACA.
“There’s a lot of Republicans … that recognize that these individuals grew up here,” he said, citing reports of a Houston firefighter and DACA beneficiary credited with saving lives in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.
At least one Vermont immigrant who benefited from DACA reached out to Welch’s office worried about the program ending. That person, he said, earned a college degree and is working on cancer research. “I say, Congress: Get our act together,” Welch said.
The congressman said a silver lining to the devastation Hurricane Harvey wreaked last week in Texas is that Congress is more likely to work together on a budget agreement and back off threats of shutting down the government.
“Many of my Republican colleagues from Texas have traditionally opposed any emergency aid unless there is [a budget] offset,” Welch said. The storm has changed their outlook, he added.
Welch wasn’t expecting perfect harmony in Congress but said there may be a foothold for some agreement. “We are very unlikely to pass a budget,” he said. “But it’s likely that we’ll have a continuing resolution and we’ll keep the lights on at least until December.”
Political columnist John Walters contributed reporting.
Related Stories
Got something to say?
Send a letter to the editor and we'll publish your feedback in print!
Technically, there was no “enactment” of DACA by President Obama in 2012. It was an Executive Order. That’s what this is all about. And why Trump’s hand is being forced (by the lawsuit from the state attorney generals in Republican states). Law is enacted via passage of legislation by Congress, combined with President’s signature at the end of the process. The question is whether the Executive Order exceeded the authority of the Executive Branch. Given that the courts struck down the parallel DAPA Executive Order, it is likely DACA will be struck down as well. It is all on Congress.
Saturday Night Live had a skit about DACA at time of Obama’s Executive Order. Spoof on the old SchoolHouse Rock that so many of us grew up with:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUDSeb2zHQ…
Bigger question is do the two parties in Congress have the courage of their convictions to actually reform our long outdated immigration system to reflect the realities of today? We are living under an immigration system passed over 50 years ago during the Johnson Administration, prior to NAFTA, globalization, outsourcing of US manufacturing to Asia, etc. & all of its corrosive & destructive effects on America. We have known since at least Bill Clinton’s first term that the nation should move to a Canadian style points-system, just as African-American, Democratic Congresswoman Barbara Jordan recommended at the conclusion of her leadership of Clinton’s Bipartisan Commission on Immigration Reform. The GOP’s Cotton-Perdue RAISE Act introduced in the Senate this summer exactly mirrors the recommendations of Clinton’s Commission. It should be bipartisan & not a heavy lift for Democrats.
But I am concerned the Democrats are not listening to people like Fareed Zakaria & Jon Meacham (neither Trump supporters). Democrats in Washington seem to have dismissed the RAISE Act altogether. Zakaria, an immigrant from India, remarked on Bill Maher show that it is time for the Democrats to give up the “absolutism” on immigration. Historian Meacham said on same show: “It is not racism to debate immigration.” Both parties need to stop playing to the crazy extremes, be it the no borders, unlimited immigration La Raza groups on far left; and the white supremacist, neo-Nazi groups on far right. Compromise and simultaneously enact the RAISE Act and Dreamer Act instead of indulging the extremes.
If I was Welch, Sanders & Leahy, why not call Trump’s bluff? Express full support for the RAISE Act as part of package deal with Dreamer Act. Absent this, both parties show they just want to retain it as wedge issue & have no real interest in reforming immigration.
We are very unlikely to pass a budget, he said. But its likely that well have a continuing resolution…”
Welch is unlikely to do anything worthwhile. Kicking the can one more time is about all he is good for.