Dem AGs press Congress for DACA fix before holiday break

A group of 20 Democratic attorneys general are urging Congress to agree to a fix for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program before going on break for the holidays.

“As fellow leaders entrusted by the voters to protect the health, safety and well-being of our states’ residents, we ask members of Congress to address this critically important matter without further delay, as you have repeatedly committed to do, to ensure that Dreamers can continue to thrive without fear of deportation,” the attorneys general wrote in a letter Tuesday, referring to certain immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children.

The statement is signed by the top prosecutors in California, Connecticut, New York, New Mexico, Illinois and Hawaii, among other states.

{mosads}President Trump announced in September that he would rescind the Obama-era DACA program, which protected certain young immigrants from deportation. But Trump also provided Congress with six months to pursue a legislative replacement.

Following Trump’s decision, a group of Democratic attorneys general sued to block him from ending DACA.

Democratic lawmakers have pushed for a fix to DACA to be included in an end-of-the-year spending bill, a prospect that Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said last month is not on the table.

Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) reiterated Monday that a DACA fix will not be in the year-end bill, but expects lawmakers to take it up in 2018.