Kansas Officials React To Trump Announcement

Kansas officials are reacting to the Trump administration’s decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

Congressman Roger Marshall says his heart goes out to the children covered by DACA, and Congress must use legal ways to help them.

Congressman Ron Estes says he supports President Trump’s decision and says the move gives Congress time to fix a broken immigration system.

Wichita State University President John Bardo issued the following statement:

“Wichita State University stands with our students and the national higher education community on concerns raised about today’s announcement from Washington throwing into question the future of immigrants brought to the United States as children.

Students registered under the DACA program are important contributors to Wichita State and add to the energy and intellect of our campus. Across Kansas and across the nation, the major professional associations in higher education and the presidents of research universities are supportive of DACA’s continuation.

This isn’t about a recent wave of immigrants. All students with registered DACA status arrived in the United States at least 10 years ago and were brought here by their families before their 16th birthdays.

I will reach out to members of our Kansas Congressional delegation to offer my support for a reasoned and swift solution that will allow DACA students to remain at Wichita State University until graduation and pursue their lives and careers in Kansas, free from the fear of deportation.”

DACA provides protections for people brought into the United States illegally as children and allows them to work and pursue an education without fear of deportation. President Trump said he will “revisit” DACA if Congress can’t take action.

Trump wrote on Twitter that phasing out the program over six months gives Congress time to “legalize DACA.” He also noted that was “something the Obama Administration was unable to do.” Trump’s tweet came just hours after his administration announced yesterday that it was rolling back the Obama-era program that protects thousands of illegal immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children.