The Trump administration’s decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program could have a great effect on Democratic efforts to retake control of the House in 2018. In California, the state that houses more than a fourth of the estimated 800,000 DACA recipients or DREAMers, the effect will be more wide spread.
“When you talk about Dreamers, kids who were brought here through no fault of their own, already graduated, sat in a classroom next to our kids and graduated, it is a different conversation than the rest of the immigration debate,” Rep. Jeff Denham of Turlock recently told a group of local Dreamers.
The stories of the 200,000 or so Californians affected by this decision will likely be a recurring theme of campaigns for the next year. With Democrats targeting nine of the state’s 14 Republican members of Congress, Republicans are at the center of the debate on DACA.
“I will do everything in my power to ensure those who were brought to the United States through no fault of their own are not unjustly punished,” Rep. David Valadao of Hanford said in a statement. Reps. Jeff Denham of Turlock and David Valadao of Hanford represent heavily Latino districts, and together with other Republicans, wrote a letter to urge Trump to keep the deportation protections until Congress can craft a solution.
Democratic campaigns have already started running campaign ads about Dreamers in districts represented by Valadao, Denham and Rep. Steve Knight, and it is just the beginning. It’s expected that in the coming weeks and months, Democrats will try to pigeonhole Republicans on how they vote with respect to DACA.
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