WASHINGTON, D.C. — On September 5th, 2017, State Innovation Exchange (SiX) Executive Director Nick Rathod released the following statement in response to President Trump’s decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program:
“President Trump's decision to end DACA is cruel, heartless, and ill-conceived. There is no good rationale for tearing apart families and stripping 800,000 young people of the opportunity to work, attend school, pay taxes, and make a better life for themselves in the only country they’ve ever called home.
“There is no economic rationale for this choice. Ending the program will cost jobs and tax dollars, hurt economic growth, and waste valuable financial resources to cruelly deport our students, friends, family members, and neighbors. It is incomprehensible that a sitting president would pick on children in order to pander to his base. Paired with President Trump’s deliberate unwillingness to condemn violent white nationalists after Charlottesville and his pardon of former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, it is clear that one of his main objectives in ending DACA is to continue to stir racial resentment and divide the country for what he believes is his political benefit.
“Now that we’re faced with a March 5 deadline for Congress to act, it’s time to organize. Moving forward, SiX will partner with immigrants’ rights organizations and the broader progressive movement to focus resources on activating state legislators to fight this decision and stand with Dreamers.”