Evers pushes Trump to speed up DACA renewals

Gov. Tony Evers sent a letter Thursday to President Donald Trump and Wisconsin’s congressional delegation urging the White House to resolve delays in the processing of applications for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. 

The DACA program has existed since the administration of President Barack Obama and allows people who were brought to the country as children without documentation to live and work in the U.S. 

There are 500,000 DACA recipients across the country and more than 5,000 in Wisconsin. The Trump administration has put their renewal applications on “processing holds.” For some of the program’s participants, those holds have now pushed their renewal beyond the deadline, putting their ability to obtain work permits and driver’s licenses at risk. 

Since its inception in 2012, the DACA program has been broadly popular among Democrats and Republicans. Earlier this year, Evers signed into law a bipartisan bill that allows DACA recipients to obtain occupational licenses from the state. 

But Trump attempted to end the program during his first term and amid his administration’s harsh crackdown on immigration, DACA recipients have been detained and deported despite their legal status. The delays in application processing have put even more people in legal limbo. 

“Mr. President, I urge you to end this harmful practice by your administration and resume expeditious processing and renewal of DACA applications,” Evers wrote. “And to Wisconsin’s Republican congressional delegation, I urge you to stand up for Wisconsin’s Dreamers, who will be or are up for renewals, and join me in demanding that the Trump Administration immediately identify and resolve the source of these unconscionable delays and resume processing and renewal of DACA applications, as Senator Baldwin, Congressman Pocan, and Congresswoman Moore have done. These hardworking members of our community should not endure the consequences of the Trump Administration’s failure to uphold the DACA program to basic standards.”