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DACA, the Trump Administration, and the Future of America’s Children

The Trump Administration failed America’s children AGAIN this week. It failed them like it has so many times already during the administration’s first year in office. While heartbreaking and disappointing, we should not have been surprised by the repeal of DACA. It was just another example of how little the Trump Administration values America’s children and how they have put politics over good policy for children.

Even prior to this week’s DACA announcement, the Trump Administration has put forth numerous proposals detrimental to the future well-being of children and families, especially the most vulnerable among us. It proposed a federal budget that, if taken seriously, would impose draconian budget cuts in programs critical to child well-being and their future ability to succeed, including Medicaid, housing, nutrition, and college aid just to name a few. It proposed the repeal of the ACA and additional Medicaid budget cuts that would have eventually resulted in the loss of health care for millions of low and moderate income Americans, many of them children. It has proposed huge tax cuts that favor the wealthy and corporations at the expense of low and moderate income families with children who are still struggling just to get by.

In k-12 education, it has proposed a school choice agenda that would harm our public schools and the students they serve. During the tragedy at Charlottesville, the President’s lack of empathy and failure to condemn the white nationalist part of his base sent a clear message to our children that racism is ok and that the views of those who practice racism are equivalent to the views of those who don’t. And then there was today’s DACA announcement, an unnecessary decision made for political reasons that will no doubt harm our nation’s economy and the future well-being of so many immigrant children who have become productive young adults and are now being penalized for decisions not of their own making.

These are just some of the most obvious examples of how low a priority children have been with the Trump Administration to date. I assure you these will not be the last. Our children deserve better from this administration.