DHS Secretary John Kelly: We Are Not Deporting ‘Dreamers’


  • India-West Staff Reporter
  • 2 hrs ago
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Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly stated at a meeting March 29 that the Trump administration will not deport undocumented youth, who are known as “Dreamers.” Some senators, including Indian American Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and Patty Murray, D-Washington, said they left the meeting “frustrated,” as Kelly’s remarks were open to broad interpretation. (Getty Images)



Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly told Senate Democrats March 29 that recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, undocumented youth who are also known as “Dreamers,” are not being deported.

“We have not picked up, I don’t care what you read or people say, we have not in my time picked up someone who was covered by DACA,” said Kelly, as reported by Roll Call.

However, DACA youth who have broken the law are no longer eligible for its protections, said the secretary. “The DACA status is a commitment not only by the government towards the so-called DREAMer, but by that person to obey the law, and some of them don’t,” he said.

DACA protects undocumented youth who have arrived as children from deportation. It also allows them to get work permits and drivers’ licenses. Over 750,000 youth are currently participating in the program, which former President Barack Obama rolled out in 2012 as an executive order, and attempted to expand in 2014.

Kelly also said that DHS would not be separating families at the U.S.-Mexico southern border, an idea that was previously tossed around as a possibility deter illegal immigrants from wanting to cross the border.

Shortly after he was elected, President Donald Trump stated his support for protecting DACA recipients, and not repealing DACA.

In an interview with Time magazine, Trump said: "We're going to work something out that's going to make people happy and proud."

Trump didn't offer details, but said: "They got brought here at a very young age, they've worked here, they've gone to school here. And they're in never-never land because they don't know what's going to happen."

Some senators, including Indian American Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and Patty Murray, D-Washington, said they left the meeting “frustrated,” as Kelly’s remarks were open to broad interpretation.

But Minority Whip Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., said the meeting was “very positive.”

“There was some clarity that came out of it in terms of the standards that are being used at Homeland Security, and some reassurances,” he told Roll Call.

Kelly, who was grilled by Harris on DACA during his confirmation hearing, told the senator: “There is a big spectrum of people who need to be dealt with in terms of deportations.”

“This (DACA) might not be the highest priority for removal,” he said, adding: “I promise you, Senator, I will be involved in the discussion.”

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