Donald Trump, through his Attorney General, Jefferson Sessions, announced an end to the immigration protections given to children who were brought to the United States illegally and given legal status under the Obama administration. Deferred Action For Childhood Arrivals (DACA) allowed these children to work and go to school without fear of deportation to countries they have never known. This policy change affects over 800,000 people living and working in the United States, disrupting families, work, businesses and communities who just want to live here in peace. Isn’t the United States the one country that does accept everyone? Isn’t that the American exceptionalism? Despite what Jefferson Sessions says, we do have room for everyone.

Trump was apparently torn on what to do. Really? Because he could’ve just done nothing and left the Obama policy in place. Instead he’s giving the program an additional six months to allow Congress to pass permanent legislation on the status of children who were brought to the U.S. illegally. But instead of doing nothing he and Jefferson Sessions turned to the old and dis-proven claim that immigrants are taking American jobs, which by every measure is not true.Unemployment is at 4.4 percent which is not too far off from what is considered economic full employment. See The Atlantic.

So what does ending DACA do but serve up red meat to Donald Trump’s base. You know his base, the people he was defending in Charlottesville. Ask yourself would the Trump administration end DACA if the beneficiaries were children who were brought here from Germany, the U.K, Slovakia, and of course, Russia?