DACA Deadline Dividing Arizona GOP Conservatives

By Holliday Moore
Published: Monday, September 4, 2017 - 8:58am
Updated: Wednesday, September 6, 2017 - 7:26am

Tuesday is the deadline GOP conservatives have set for President Donald Trump to pull worker visas for some 800,000 young immigrants protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program.

Trump has indicated he will pull the visas, which Arizona U.S. Representative Paul Gosar supports. Speaking on Channel 8's Arizona Horizon over the weekend, Gosar was critical of the way the program was enacted in the first place.

"First of all, the way it was constructed by President Obama was illegal," Gosar said. "Article One, Section Eight, gives congress that jurisdiction."

But, Arizona's junior U.S. Senator and growing Trump critic, Jeff Flake told CNN's State of the Union Jake Tapper that Congress needs to look beyond the policy's construction.

Of the 800,000 children currently protected by the two-year worker visas, Flake has urged fellow conservatives to consider the role those children played in getting to the U.S.

"The median age, I think was 6-years-old when they were brought across the border," Flake said on CNN. "They should not be punished for the sins of their parents."

If the President decides not to rescind the visas before the Sept. 5 deadline, the conservative lawmaker's contingency said it will sue over the way it was originally constructed.

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