The Trump administration announced it is scrapping DACA, a government program that protects young,
undocumented migrants from deportation.
It's expected to affect some 800-thousand people, including Koreans living in the states.
Local Korean groups are watching closely to see how their communities will be affected.
Cha Sang-mi reports.
Koreans in America are watching carefully after the Trump administration on Tuesday
said it's rescinding the Obama-era program called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.
President Trump has given Congress six months to come up with comprehensive legislation
to decide the fate of the so-called "dreamers," before the scheme is eventually scrapped over
the next couple of years.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions made the announcement, calling the Daca order unconstitutional and
a "unilateral executive amnesty."
The end of Daca means those covered by the program -- an estimated 800,000 young people
including around 8-thousand South Koreans, possibly more -- could be deported starting
next March and first-time applications will not be acted on after this Tuesday.
The five-year-old program gave two-year work and study permits to undocumented immigrants
under the age of 30 who entered the U.S. illegally as children, if they provided their personal
information.
An official at the Korean Consulate General in L.A. said there are more than 25-hundred
Korean DACA recipients in California alone, and because of the seriousness of the situation,
there is no immediate measure for the Korean government to take.
The Korean American Federation of L.A. said among the Korean DACA recipients there are
more students than workers.
The association is concerned they will have to live in fear of deportation and be unable
to get support from others due to the need to conceal their status.
The move to end DACA could reinforce President Trump's approval among his base, but many
in Washington are against it.
A study by the Center for American Progress estimates that the loss of all DACA workers
would reduce U.S. GDP by over 400-billion U.S. dollars over the next decade.
Some business leaders and Barack Obama himself have condemned the move and urged Congress
to quickly act to protect the "dreamers."
The former president issued his own statement defending DACA's legality and the "dreamers"
saying they are Americans in their hearts and minds, just not on paper.
Cha Sang-mi, Arirang News.
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