LGBT rights groups on Tuesday reacted
swiftly and negatively to the news of President Donald Trump's plan
to rescind DACA.
The Deferred Action on Childhood
Arrivals (DACA) program, which former President Barack Obama
implemented in 2012, allowed undocumented immigrants brought to the
United Stares by their families as children to remain here.
Trump on Tuesday announced that he
would rescind DACA after a six month delay to allow Congress time to
act on the issue.
“Today and every day, the LGBTQ
community stands with Dreamers,” Chad Griffin, President of the
Human Rights Campaign (HRC), said in a video message. “Many LGBTQ
people know what it feels like to hide who they are as an act of
survival, to look over their shoulder in fear. This is what we've
fought against for decades, and we can't let Donald Trump and Mike
Pence push anyone back into the shadows simply because of who they
are.”
According to Griffin, 75,000 LGBTQ
Dreamers are living in the United States.
“Whether it's transgender troops or
young immigrant Americans, President Trump appears bent on singling
out and harming people and families that he sees as different,”
said Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for
Transgender Equality.
Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of
GLAAD, added: “Along with his Muslim ban and pardon of Joe Arpaio,
this cruel act is a trifecta of President Trump's full embrace to the
violent, out-of-touch ideology of white supremacists. The LGBTQ
community stands with fair-minded Americans in demanding that
hardworking and patriotic DREAMers be allowed access to the American
Dream.”