By Harrison Arubu
New York – Former U.S. Vice President, Joe Biden, has promised to make the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals programme (DACA) permanent if elected President in November.
Biden made the promise in a statement on Thursday following a U.S. Supreme Court’s judgment blocking President Donald Trump’s bid to scrap the programme.
Initiated by former President Barack Obama in 2012, DACA protects undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children from deportation.
It gives beneficiaries the opportunity to work legally in the U.S. provided they follow the rules and have a clean record.
The ruling is a huge relief for nearly 800,000 beneficiaries known as “dreamers”, some of whom rallied outside the apex court’s premises in Washington shortly after the ruling on Thursday.
“The Supreme Court’s ruling today is a victory made possible by the courage and resilience of hundreds of thousands of DACA recipients who bravely stood up and refused to be ignored.
“As President, I will immediately work to make it permanent by sending a bill to Congress on day one of my administration,” Biden said.
The former Vice President to Obama is the presumed Democratic Party’s candidate to face Trump in the Nov. 3 Presidential election.
He said Trump’s bid to scrap DACA since 2017 was “capricious and arbitrary”.
Biden warned the president against making another attempt to repeal the programme especially during the coronavirus pandemic.
He noted that Trump would be responsible for “upending the lives of hundreds of thousands of young people and bringing harm to families and communities all across the country”, if he ended the programme.
According to him, DACA has given hundreds of thousands of young immigrants who came to this country as children the chance to contribute to the country they know as home.
“And with that opportunity, they have shown the incredible capacity of the immigrant spirit.
“Today, DACA recipients are engineers, doctors, and lawyers. They have succeeded at the highest levels of academia.
“Many have started their own small businesses, which pay taxes and provide jobs for U.S. citizens.
“Nearly a third of all current DACA recipients are essential workers helping our communities respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Nearly 30,000 of them are front-line health care workers,” Biden added.
However, he warned that it was not over yet as the ruling had not removed the difficulties ahead, adding that much remained to be done.
“But I will continue to stand with DACA recipients, their parents, and their families at every step.
“And in November, joined by millions across this country, we will reject the President who tried to rip so many of our family members, friends, and coworkers out of our lives,” he said.
(NAN)