Bank CEOs say DACA recipients should be allowed to remain in US

The top executives at two of the country’s largest banks said Tuesday that young undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children should be allowed to stay in the country. 

Jamie Dimon, the chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, said in a statement that “when people come here to learn, work hard and give back to their communities, we should allow them to stay in the United States.”

“America is and always has been a country of immigrants. We should do everything in our power to continue to attract the best and brightest because they make us stronger as a people and as an economy,” Dimon said in a statement from the Business Roundtable, a group of top business executives he chairs. 

{mosads}Goldman Sachs Chairman and CEO Lloyd Blankfein also said Tuesday that young immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally as children should be granted a reprieve from deportation, and he urged Congress to act on the matter.

“Immigration is a complex issue but I wouldn’t deport a kid who was brought here and only knows America. Congress must address,” he wrote on Twitter.

Immigration is a complex issue but I wouldn’t deport a kid who was brought here and only knows America. Congress must address. #DACA

— Lloyd Blankfein (@lloydblankfein) September 5, 2017

The executives’ comments came after the Trump administration announced Tuesday that it would end the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which temporarily shielded young undocumented immigrants from deportation.

That program will be phased out in six months, which gives Congress time to pass legislation, according to the administration.