A reverend who offered one of the prayers at President Trump’s inauguration called on Tuesday for Congress to act in the wake of the administration’s decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
“Hundreds of thousands of Hispanic young people will be overcome with fear and grief today,” the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, said in a statement.
“Simultaneously, a multi-ethnic coalition of tens-of-millions of law abiding, U.S. citizens will begin to put unrelenting pressure on members of Congress to provide a permanent solution for DREAMers, whose fate is in question by no fault of their own,” using a term commonly applied to DACA recipients.
Rodriguez said in the statement that Hispanic people in this country have been the “political bargaining chips of our powerful politicians” for too long.
“This is an affront to the sanctity of life, it is inhumane, and the Hispanic community will stand for it no longer,” he said.
He then went after Congress, saying lawmakers expressed concern for the country’s Hispanic community but “have chosen to do nothing.”
“We will not distinguish between Republicans and Democrats but between those who stand for righteousness and justice and those who do not,” he said in the statement.
The Trump administration announced Tuesday its plans to end the DACA program.
Trump released a written statement that cast former President Obama’s creation of the program as going beyond his constitutional responsibilities.
Read more at Reverend who prayed at Trump’s inauguration rips DACA decision.
