BOSTON (WHDH) — Immigration advocates and local lawmakers in Massachusetts said they will continue their fight to defend Deffered Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) after President Donald Trump opted to rescind it.
Lawmakers spoke Tuesday afternoon shortly after Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced DACA would be ending. Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) called the decision “just plain evil” and criticized Trump for having Sessions make the announcement instead of doing it himself.
“Donald Trump is no better than Pontius Pilate by having Attorney General Jeff Sessions make the announcement today,” said Markey. “I hope he recognizes the cruelty that repealing DACA will inflict on innocent young people and their families.”
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh accused Trump of targeting people not because of what they have done but who they are. He called the decision “very sad”
Attorney General Maura Healey announced she would joining attorneys general from other states in a lawsuit to defend DACA.
Diana Ortiz Giron, who has been covered under DACA since 2013, came to America from Mexico when she was 6 years old and her brother 8. She has since graduated from Harvard and gotten married but said she is worried knowing her brother, a scientist in California, could be deported.
“After DACA expires, he may lose his spot in his Ph.D. I don’t know if he will be able to finish his doctorate,” said Giron.
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