GREENFIELD — The City of Greenfield has officially expressed its support of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which grants a temporary reprieve from deportation for so-called “Dreamers,” immigrants who were brought into the country as children by their parents.
Greenfield City Council unanimously approved the resolution at its Oct. 10 meeting. In doing so, Greenfield becomes the second city in Monterey County to officially state its support; the County of Monterey passed a similar resolution last month, followed by the City of Soledad on Oct. 4.
“The City Council of the City of Greenfield affirms its support for the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants who live in the United States and … strongly supports the Dreamers and DACA recipients who are members of our community,” said Mayor Jesus OlveraGarcia, reading from the resolution.
The DACA program — introduced by former President Barack Obama in 2012 — permits certain individuals who came to the United States as undocumented juveniles to request a temporary reprieve from deportation known as “deferred action.”
The program has allowed more than 230,000 undocumented residents of California — nearly 800,000 in total nationwide — who entered the country as minors to apply to receive legal work permits and contribute to the nation’s economic growth.
On Sept. 5, President Donald Trump announced that he would repeal the program after a six-month period, urging Congress to find a replacement in the meantime.
The Trump administration will begin phasing out DACA on March 5, 2018.
According to Greenfield’s resolution, “The elimination of the DACA program will result in more than 680,000 young immigrants becoming unemployed and a reduction of nation’s economic growth at a cost of hundreds of billions of dollars, including a gross domestic product (GDP) loss of over $11 billion a year in California.”
Copies of the resolution have been sent to President Trump and local Congress members.
