Heritage Action called for the end of President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program, making an argument that dovetails with legislation offered by Senator Ted Cruz (R., Texas) as a solution to the border crisis.
The Heritage Foundation’s James Carafano denounced the program in a Thursday op-ed. ’The president’s 2012 policy for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, regardless of the Oval Office’s intent, sets a precedent that encourages further unlawful migration, particularly among minors,” Carafano wrote. ”It leaves those in the program mired in uncertainty as to their future status. It resolves nothing, encourages the problem to grow and is a detriment to establishing fair, consistent and sustainable immigration policy. Dumping DACA, on the other hand, would send a strong and unequivocal signal there is no advantage in rushing to the U.S. to shortcut the line and receive legal authorization to remain here.”
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.,) attacked that as a merciless policy, but Cruz argues that only ending DACA will convince Central American parents to stop sending their children on harrowing journeys to the United States.
“The only way to stop the border crisis is to stop President Obama’s amnesty,” Cruz said Thursday. ”If we do not put an end to its expansion — to the promise of amnesty that is the reason so many are coming — then more little boys and girls will be trafficked, abused, and even killed. We have an obligation to make sure that not one more child is hurt by this president’s lawlessness.”
Without mentioning Cruz’s bill, Heritage Action added that “while various members and working groups continue deliberations, they must all remember DACA is the root of the problem and it is unsustainable to leave it in place.”
One House Republican leadership aide suggested that it would be difficult to use the border crisis to force the termination of DACA. “Doing so in the midst of the current crisis could look like an overreach, particularly given how the mainstream media will distort it,” the aide told National Review Online. “We’re still waiting to hear from the Border Working Group, and nothing has been ruled in or out. Also, it’s certainly possible to deal with that issue legislatively at another time.