Complete your notes using the file below. Consider this a Read Like A Rockstar activity. When you dont understand something, you need to do research and make additional notes. When you are done with your notes, you may play the games below or NationStates until we do our test review.
The Trump administration announced September 5 that it planned to scrap DACA. The program had given temporary protection to undocumented migrants who arrived in the U.S. as children.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the U.S. would end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in March 2018, throwing almost 800,000 people into turmoil and fear. The U.S. attorney general is the chief officer in charge of law enforcement in the country. After Sessions announced that new applications would no longer be accepted, Congress was given up to six months to find another law to address the migrants. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the DACA program will not be accepting new applicants. [click to enlarge] There has been a determined Democratic pushback: party leaders in Congress said they had agreed with Donald Trump to protect such people, known as Dreamers, through new laws and increased spending on border security. At first, the White House said that deal was not final yet, but Trump recently told reporters, "We're working on a plan for DACA." So what is DACA, who are the people affected, and what will happen to them? What is DACA?DACA is a federal government program created in 2012 under Barack Obama. It allows people who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children the temporary right to live, study and work in America. Those applying are checked for any criminal history or threat to national security, and they must be students or have completed school or military service. If they pass this checkup process, they can avoid being deported for two years, with a chance to renew. They are also eligible for basic permissions like a driving license, college enrollment or a work permit. Who are the Dreamers?Those protected under DACA are known as Dreamers. By the time Trump announced his decision to stop the program, 787,580 had been granted approval. To apply, they must have been younger than 31 on June 15, 2012, when the program began, and "undocumented," meaning they lack legal immigration status, or standing. They must have arrived in the U.S. before turning 16 and lived there continuously since June 2007. Most Dreamers are from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, and the largest numbers live in California, Texas, Florida and New York. They range in age from 15 to 36, according to the White House. Why are they called Dreamers? President Barack Obama, seen here with a group of Dreamers in 2015, has said: "I don't think there's anybody in America who's had a chance to talk to these six young people ... who wouldn't find it in their heart to say these kids are Americans just like us, and they belong here, and we want to do right by them." [click to enlarge] In 2001, both Democrats and Republicans came together to create the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act. It would have offered those who had arrived illegally as children the chance of permanent legal residency. However, the act repeatedly failed to pass, so the DACA program was a temporary compromise created by Obama's administration. What did Trump announce?During last year's divisive election, Trump promised to scrap DACA immediately and work to deport the U.S.’s estimated 11 million undocumented people. That was in addition to his threats to ban all Muslims from entering the U.S. and to build a wall along the border with Mexico. He has not yet successfully executed any of these threats. The administration announced September 5 that it would begin "an orderly, lawful" ending of DACA. Trump gave Congress six months to come up with a legislative solution. Because Obama created the DACA program as an executive policy decision on his own, Trump had the power simply to reverse the policy. He indicated that the government will "generally not take actions" to remove law-abiding DACA recipients. What will happen to the Dreamers?Under the Trump administration, DACA applications will no longer be accepted. For those currently in the program, their legal status and other DACA-related permits, such as to work and attend college, will begin expiring in March 2018. Dreamers will all lose their status by March 2020. However, Congress may pass laws allowing a new way for them to become legal immigrants, either temporarily or permanently. As their legal statuses expire, they could be deported and sent back to the countries where they were born, which they have no familiarity with. It is still unclear whether this would happen. Those with work permits expiring between September 5, 2017 and March 5, 2018 will be allowed to apply for renewal by October 5. What has Trump said about Dreamers?On the campaign trail in 2016, Trump said he would "immediately terminate" President Obama's executive orders, including DACA, which they called "illegal." But in a speech in August 2016, in North Carolina, when talking about poverty and how the so-called American dream is out of reach for many U.S. citizens, Trump indirectly criticized DACA and people benefiting from it, saying: "We want our children to be Dreamers, too." After becoming president, Trump said he wanted to "work something out" for Dreamers. "We don't want to hurt those kids," he said, "we love the Dreamers." On the day the end of DACA was announced, he said he told the Department of Homeland Security that DACA recipients will not be actively pursued "unless they are criminals, are involved in criminal activity, or are members of a gang." Why were Republican state attorneys general suing Trump over DACA?Trump failed to cancel DACA upon taking office, so anti-immigration Republican state leaders decided to force him to do it. These strict conservatives argue that DACA is unconstitutional, and Dreamers are illegal and threaten American jobs and culture. Ken Paxton, the attorney general of Texas, sent a letter to Sessions (who opposes DACA) in June. A state attorney general is the top law enforcement officer in that state. Paxton threatened to file a lawsuit against the federal government unless it canceled the DACA program by September 5. That letter was also signed by the attorneys general of Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia. Tennessee then reversed course to support DACA and finding a permanent solution through laws instead. Which states announced plans to sue Trump over his decision to rescind DACA?After Sessions announced the decision to remove DACA, 15 states and Washington, D.C. announced a lawsuit of their own against the Trump administration. Announcing the suit in Seattle, Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson said Trump's decision to end DACA was "cruel and unlawful" and added: "It's outrageous and I'm not going to put up with it. It's not right." The states in the lawsuit are Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington. California subsequently announced its own lawsuit. Who supports DACA?In addition to immigration advocates and most Democratic politicians, a majority of national politicians in the Republican party reportedly did not want Trump to scrap DACA. That group included such prominent figures as House Speaker Paul Ryan and Arizona Senator John McCain. A prominent group of Christian religious leaders wrote to Trump last month telling him that Dreamers "are leading in our churches and our communities." This week will wrap up our unit on Political Geography and Energy. On Monday we will create maps, flags, and history for the nations we created last week. On Tuesday we will further explore our nations by deciding on policies and voting for officers. On Wednesday we will develop renewable energy plans, and on Thursday we will complete the study guide for our test Friday.
Continuing our third unit this week! On Monday, we will have an Energy Resources reading assignment and I will meet with students individually to discuss progress. On Tuesday we will explore regions of the world with Flocabulary and take a notebook quiz. On Wednesday and Thursday, we will complete a project on world organizations and on Friday students will have their choice of assignment based on our Energy and Political Geography Unit.
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March 2018
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