Attorney General Jeff Sessions said that DACA, created by President Barak Obama is unconstitutional and has caused hundreds of thousands of jobs to be filled by illegal immigrants.

DACA was adopted in 2012 to protect nearly 800,000 immigrants who have lived illegally in the US since they were children. The program protects them from deportation — granting them a two-year reprieve that can be extended and issuing them a work permit and social security number. DACA recipients must have no criminal record, prove they were brought to the US before age 16, be under 31 when the program was launched, and be least 15 years old at the time of applying.

Attorney General Sessions says the program ended on September 5. The Department of Homeland Security issued a memorandum Tuesday formally rescinding the DACA and senior Department officials said new applications for DACA will no longer be accepted.

Trump’s decision indicates he’s moving ahead with hardline immigration campaign promises made in 2016. Many political and business leaders have decried Trump’s move, including the heads of Facebook, Microsoft, and Apple and a number of Republican congressmen. They argue that these immigrants contribute greatly to the American economy and ending this program could harm the US economy and reduce tax revenues.

Meanwhile, supporters say the law must be enforced. They say it was an abuse of power to grant amnesty to young immigrants who entered the US illegally. Most of these immigrants who have lived in the US since they were small are from Mexico or other Latin American countries.

Thu Hoa