Kyra Robinson | Contributing Writer
Americans were reminded of the President’s zealous opposition to illegal immigration when President Trump ended the Deferred Action for Children Arrivals, also known as DACA.
Immigration reform was a major focus during Trump’s campaign as he introduced various plans to prohibit non-Americans from migrating to the country including the wall on the Mexican border and defunding sanctuary cities.
In 2012, DACA was executively created by the former president Barack Obama to protect undocumented children who immigrated to this country with their parents.
To be eligible, the immigrants had to be under the age of 16 and had to have lived in the country since 2007. Those who applied had to have no criminal history and attend school.
Currently, there are about 800,000 dreamers in this country.
According to the Trump administration, the program is unconstitutional because it allowed non-citizens to live with the same rights and responsibilities as Americans without proper naturalization.
Trump has received much criticism from impactful figures including minority leader Nancy Pelosi and Pope Francis.
He has also received backlash from prominent universities who have a significant amount of enrolled dreamers. Representatives from Columbia University, University of California and University of Texas have spoken in favor of DACA.
The end of the program also had impact at Hampton University.
Political science professor, Dr. Joy Hendrickson a New York ntive who raised her kids in Nigeria with her husband, deemed Trump’s actions an injustice.
“It is breaking more promises, just as America has done so many times to so many people.”
Hendrickson sympathized with immigrant mothers who brought their kids from bad countries because, despite being an American citizen, she found it difficult to relocate from Nigeria for safety purposes because it felt like her home.
“People do not leave unless the situation is really difficult. They would rather stay in their own country, speak their own language, be with their family.”
Sophomore Emajja Bowen was also impassioned by Trump’s decision, for she has a friend who is a dreamer.
Her friend had not known she was undocumented until she applied for college.
“She has been here all her life and knows nothing but America,” Bowen explained, “He makes decisions off fear rather than logic.”
Reportedly, Trump has been negotiating with democrats in Congress to make a deal on the program. However, the future of DACA is still unknown.
The Hampton Script 