For years, politicians have debated the merits of President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which provides a pathway to citizenship to certain illegal immigrants, many of whom crossed the border as children being led by their parents.
However, new statistics from the Department of Homeland Security showing tens of thousands of DACA recipients with arrest records cast new, potentially troubling light on the Obama-era program. (Fox News)
Nearly 60,000 immigrants with arrest records — including 10 accused of murder — have been allowed to stay in the United States under the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) revealed Monday.
According to DHS, 59,786 DACA recipients have been arrested while in the U.S. — approximately 7.8 percent of all who have been approved to remain in this country under the program since it was created in 2012. Of those, 53,792 were arrested before their most recent request for a so-called “grant of deferred action” was approved. Another 7,814 were arrested after their request was approved.
The DHS statistics do not indicate how many of the arrested immigrants were convicted of crimes, nor do they indicate whether charges were reduced or dropped. They also do not indicate how many arrested DACA recipients were deported as the result of a conviction.
Francis Cissna, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) director, told “Fox & Friends” the agency wants to release as much data about DACA as possible for the public and lawmakers to be informed.
The arrest data is public for the first time as Congress prepares to debate a pair of Republican-sponsored immigration bills containing provisions aimed at dealing with this unresolved issue.
AAN Staff
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