The decision by President Donald Trump to scrap an amnesty programme that granted work permits to immigrants who arrived in the US illegally as children will impact the country's economy, US Chambers of Commerce said Tuesday.
Trump today scrapped an Obama-era programme known as Deferred Action for Children Arrival (DACA), a move likely to impact 800,000 undocumented workers including more than 7,000 Indian-Americans.
US Chamber of Commerce senior vice president and chief policy officer Neil Bradley said, "Individuals enrolled (in DACA) in good faith and became ingrained in our communities and the nation's economy. To reverse course now and deport these individuals is contrary to fundamental American principles and the best interests of our country."
With approximately 700,000 DACA recipients working for all sorts of businesses across the country, terminating their employment eligibility runs contrary to the president's goal of growing the US economy, he said.
"We ask that the administration and the Congress work together to quickly find a legislative solution before the program expires," Bradley said.
The much anticipated announcement was condemned by political leaders, including those from Trump's Republican party, think tanks and human rights groups.
"President Trump's decision to eliminate DACA is the wrong approach to immigration policy at a time when both sides of the aisle need to come together to reform our broken immigration system and secure the border," said top Republican Senator John McCain.
"While I disagreed with President Obama's unilateral action on this issue, I believe that rescinding DACA at this time is an unacceptable reversal of the promises and opportunities that have been conferred to these individuals," McCain said.
Congresswoman Linda Sanchez, Vice Chair of the House Democratic Caucus, said Trump's rescission of the DACA programme marks his cruelest action yet against the immigrant - especially the Latino immigrant - community living in the United States.
Facebook-led FWD.US - which represents corporate sector in the Silicon Valley - said that repealing of DACA will cost 7,234 jobs every week in the United States.
"It will cost the US economy USD 460.3 billion over the next decade. Every business day that DACA is repealed will result in an average of 1,400 dreamers being forced out of their jobs and putting them under immediate threat of deportation," it said.
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