Tennessee Congressman Jim Cooper doesn’t agree with the administration’s decision to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. But he’s hoping the state’s U.S. senators will continue to support the program.
The Nashville Democrat says Sens. Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker have “generally done the right thing on these issues.”
“They’re not perfect, but in a crucial vote several years ago, they did the right thing, and they were some of the only Southern senators to do that,” Cooper said. “I’m hopeful they will stick to their guns and will do right by these DREAMers in the upcoming votes.”
Alexander says he
voted in 2013 for a failed immigration bill that included provisions that resembled DACA. Through a spokesperson, he told WPLN he’s willing to work with the president on introducing similar legislation again.
The Trump administration has given Congress six months to pass a legislative measure to protect so-called DREAMers.
Speaking at Caza Azafran on Tuesday morning in Nashville, Cooper also expressed hope that his GOP colleagues would get to know more DREAMers. He said he doesn’t know a Republican who has voted against them once they get to know some of the young people personally.
Over the weekend, a number of lawmakers, including top-level Republicans in the House and Senate, have said they think there are enough votes to pass a bipartisan bill to preserve elements of DACA.
But Rep. Scott DesJarlais, a Republican who represents Murfreesboro, said he supports the phase-out of DACA, saying it encouraged illegal immigration across the Southern border.
“Our focus should be Americans out of work, underpaid, or concerned for their safety, because of unfettered illegal immigration and related border crime,” DesJarlais said in a statement.
My statement on the Trump administration’s announcement on DACA →
https://t.co/upZ9dZhlEu— Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn)
September 5, 2017
Haslam: Respect Compassion And ‘Rule Of Law’
Meanwhile, Gov. Bill Haslam said he’s hopeful Congress will move quickly on an immigration bill that resolves the status of people brought to the United States illegally as children.
Speaking to reporters just minutes after the Trump administration’s announcement, Haslam did not explicitly endorse giving citizenship to undocumented immigrants who’ve registered through DACA, but he said their best interests need to be considered.
“It’s my hope that they’ll come up with a program that does three things: that balances the compassion and practical reality of people who are here; number two, makes certain that we respect the rule of law that this country is based on; and number three, recognizes the practical and economic realities for a lot of people,” he said.
More than 8,000 Tennesseans have registered through DACA. Haslam notes that many of them are now adults, having lived in the U.S. for years or decades.
Universities Condemn DACA Reversal
Some of Nashville’s top universities are weighing in against the administration’s decision to rescind DACA.
The president of Lipscomb University, Randy Lowry, said his school has had a tremendous experience working with DREAMers for over a decade. Lipscomb is willing to work with state and national lawmakers to find a way to keep these students in the country, he said.
Vanderbilt Chancellor Nick Zeppos said
in a statement that ending DACA would be a “mistake.” Students have pressured Zeppos
to declare Vanderbilt a “sanctuary campus.” But so far he has not explicitly committed to protect undocumented students from law enforcement.
“If there are legal issues down the road, I’m sure will deal with them,” he told WPLN. “But right now our focus is on the students and really their welfare and success at Vanderbilt.”
Trevecca releases statement on DACA decision:
https://t.co/B8nBZrs2JF
pic.twitter.com/6CfOmOs8kG— Trevecca University (@Trevecca)
September 5, 2017
The heads of Belmont and Trevecca Nazarene universities say the administration’s decision goes against their Christian missions. Belmont president Bob Fisher also called the move a betrayal of trust.
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