DHS Secretary John Kelly partially fulfilled one of President Trump's key campaign promises on Thursday night when he rescinded the DAPA amnesty. The illegal and unconstitutional executive amnesty issued by former President Barack Obama would have granted an estimated 5 million work permits to illegal aliens who were the parents of U.S. citizens or Legal Permanent Residents.
The Administration has yet to take action on the DACA Amnesty, and a DHS report last week showed that the Trump Administration has issued thousands of new work permits to illegal aliens and renewed more than a 100,000 more since taking office.
The Department of Homeland Security issued the following statement on Thursday night:
On June 15, Department of Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly, after consulting with the Attorney General [Jeff Sessions], signed a memorandum rescinding the November 20, 2014 memorandum that created the program known as Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (“DAPA”) because there is no credible path forward [in the courts] to litigate the currently enjoined policy.
The DAPA executive amnesty had been temporarily blocked by a federal court after 26 states, led by Texas, sued the Administration over the order shortly after it was announced in November 2014. Federal District Judge Andrew Hanen issued a nationwide temporary injunction against the executive action in 2015 that was upheld by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. The Obama Administration challenged the ruling to the Supreme Court, but only eight justices were seated at the time of the appeal, so no decision was reached.
On August 31, 2016, Pres. Trump delivered a campaign speech listing his immigration priorities if elected. Number five on the list was to end the DACA and DAPA amnesties.
We will immediately terminate President Obama’s two illegal executive amnesties in which he defied federal law and the Constitution to give amnesty to approximately five million illegal immigrants, five million.
