Protests are taking place across the country after Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the Trump administration was rescinding DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which gives nearly 800,000 young people permission to live and work in the United States.

Sessions called on the Department of Homeland Security to “wind down” the program. This gives Congress six months to decide the fate of immigrants currently protected by DACA.

Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said: “President Trump’s decision to end DACA in six months is inhumane, cruel and shameful. There is no legal, ethical, or moral justification for ending DACA, which is a lawful program. President Trump manufactured this unnecessary crisis. Congress must now act immediately to pass the Dream Act without any partisan, divisive amendments to permanently protect these young people who make our country stronger every day.”

Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) responded: “President Trump is destroying the future of nearly 800,000 young men and women who were brought here by their parents and know no other country but this one. After toying with their futures and raising their hopes with talk of his ‘big heart,’ Donald Trump has shown exactly what his priorities are. He has once again sided with hate and xenophobia, putting in place a repeal that is cruel, inhumane and unjust.”

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