Homeland Security agents are not actively targeting Dreamers for deportation, Secretary John F. Kelly told the House Homeland Security Committee Wednesday.
œWe are not, not, not targeting DACA registrants right now, said Kelly.
Dreamers are illegal immigrants that were approved for tentative status in 2012 under President Obama’s DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. To qualify, Dreamers must have come to the U.S. as children, been in the country by 2007, be 30 or younger as of 2012 and have pursued a high school diploma. The program gave them work permits, entitling them to Social Security numbers, driver™s licenses and other benefits.
Kelly declined to state his position on the legality of the DACA program. He said he hopes Congress will find a permanent legislative solution, because he hears about the issue a lot from both the right and left.
œI am hoping frankly because there is bipartisan support ¦ for doing something about DACA legally, legislatively, Mr. Kelly said.
This is not the first time Kelly has made this statement about Dreamers. Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union” in April, Kelly said President Donald Trump told him to focus on two issues: securing all the borders, particularly the Southwest, and target and deport illegal immigrants guilty of other crimes.
