The leaders of local-government “sanctuaries” asked President Obama to further shield illegal aliens before leaving office. Working under a group New York Mayor Bill de Blasio created, Cities for Action, the leaders asked Obama to front-load work permit extensions for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients, and to extend Temporary Protected Status for illegal aliens residing in the United States.
Media reports say the Cities for Action organization is comprised of about 100 city and county leaders that advocate sanctuary policies for illegal aliens, including Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney. 31 leaders from the group wrote Obama an open letter urging more protections for illegal aliens before Donald Trump assumes the presidency.
They wrote, “[W]e encourage you to undertake steps to support the over 740,000 DACA recipients in the U.S…[W]e call upon your administration to accept early renewal applications for current DACA holders to extend temporary protections for them. In addition, we urge USCIS to commit to speedy processing of initial and renewal applications and urge your administration to implement additional privacy protections for DACA holders to reassure recipients that they will not be punished as a result of coming out of the shadows.”
The letter also urges Obama to review current Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designations and extend them before the end of his term. TPS provides temporary legal status and a work permit to illegal aliens residing in the U.S. from countries that experienced an environmental disaster, an ongoing armed conflict or other extraordinary circumstances. The president designates TPS for a country for a certain term, so the leaders want those designations renewed and extended.
The leaders also thanked Obama for terminating the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS) program, which incoming President Trump could have used to reduce immigration from terror-producing countries.
Read more in Breitbart News.
