House panel moves to bar deportation of military ‘Dreamers’
The House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday approved an amendment protecting from deportation recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that are active-duty military or veterans.
The amendment, approved by a voice vote with no opposition, would block funds from being used to deport DACA recipients who went on to serve in the military.
Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) sponsored the amendment, which will be included in the Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill, due for a vote late Wednesday evening.
DACA was an Obama-era program that extended protections to immigrants brought into the country illegally as children — a larger group typically referred to as “Dreamers.” President Trump moved to end the program, though its fate remains in flux as it works its way through the court system, which has thus far ruled that the program’s protections should continue in the interim period.
DACA has become a central bargaining chip in the immigration debate. A “compromise” immigration bill that would have funded President Trump’s border wall and granted legal cover for DACA recipients was voted down earlier in the summer.
In February, Defense Secretary James Mattis said Dreamers in the military would not be subject to deportation.
But in April, The Washington Post reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement was moving to deport a Chinese immigrant who was enlisted in the Army.
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