GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- The superintendent of Grand Rapids Public Schools wasted no time Tuesday letting everyone know where the district stands on the president’s decision to end DACA.
DACA, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, is an executive order issued by fPresident Obama in 2012 that protected undocumented people from deportation if they came into the country as children.
At a rally on Tuesday, GRPS Superintendent Teresa Weatherall Neal called on Congress to take action for the 800,000 people under DACA's protection who now face uncertainty.
“These are neighbors,” she said. “These are people in our community. And we can’t say that this is okay. We can’t believe that this is okay.”
Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the decision Tuesday, saying DACA was an overreach of executive power that circumvented the Congress.
The program is now scheduled to end in six months, giving Congress time to pass legislation addressing the Dreamers. However, President Trump tweeted that if Congress can't come to a consensus, he will "revisit" the issue.
The school board says hundreds of families in West Michigan benefit from DACA.
“We at the Hispanic center of West Michigan are truly disappointed by today’s executive decision to end DACA,” says Roberto Torres, executive director of the Hispanic Center of West Michigan.
Weatherall Neal said GRPS will apply political pressure on lawmakers to protect students and their families from possible deportation.
