Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami has a question for President Trump: If Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio is deserving of leniency after he broke the law, why not extend the same mercy to immigrants living in the United States illegally?
“What’s good for the goose is good for the gander,” the archbishop told America during an Aug. 29 interview. He noted that opponents of extending amnesty-like programs to the estimated 11 million undocumented people living in the United States often point out that they broke the law by entering the country and therefore should be treated as criminals.
Archbishop Wenski asked, “If Arpaio can be pardoned, why can’t the irregular immigrants be pardoned?”
The White House announced on Aug. 25 that the president had decided to pardon Mr. Arpaio, the former sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, who shot to national fame by aggressively targeting immigrants living in the United States illegally. In 2011, a federal judge ordered Mr. Arpaio to stop traffic patrols in which people were detained solely on suspicion of their immigration status and turned over to immigration authorities. The court later found that Mr. Arpaio’s office continued to systematically profile Latinos and recommended a criminal charge for prolonging the patrols 17 months after the sheriff had been ordered to stop them. Mr. Arpaio was convicted last month of criminal contempt of court for defying the order.
Archbishop Wenski is not alone in questioning the pardon. Cardinal Roger Mahony, the former archbishop of Los Angeles, wrote he is “troubled and disgusted” by the decision.
Mr. Trump’s decision to pardon Mr. Arpaio was announced in the midst of a debate inside the White House about the fate of an Obama-era program that allows about 800,000 undocumented individuals brought to the United States as children, popularly known as Dreamers, to work here legally.
The Obama-era program allows about 800,000 undocumented individuals brought to the United States as children to work here legally,
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Advocates on both sides of the issue are bracing for the possibility that the president will halt the issuance of new work permits under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program, a move that would effectively phase out a program that gave hundreds of thousands of young people a reprieve from deportation and the ability to work legally in the United States.
Catholic leaders have expressed alarm at the possibility that the White House may bow to pressure from 10 state attorneys general who are threatening to sue the administration over the legality of the program if the president does not change the rules by Sept. 5. They contend that the program, created by an executive order from President Barack Obama, is unlawful and that Congress must regulate immigration. Twenty other attorneys general have urged Mr. Trump to keep the program intact.
As a presidential candidate, Mr. Trump promised to overturn Mr. Obama’s immigration policies, including DACA. But following his election victory, his stance appeared to have softened. In December, he told Time magazine that Dreamers were “brought here at a very young age, they’ve worked here, they’ve gone to school here.”
“We’re going to work something out that’s going to make people happy and proud,” he said.
In February, he said, “The DACA situation is a very difficult thing for me, as I love these kids, I love kids.” Then in June, the administration announced that it would continue issuing work permits under DACA. But the threat of a messy lawsuit could change his thinking.
Archbishop Wenski said he hopes that President Trump will keep his promise to keep people happy—by keeping DACA in place.
“I’m still waiting for him to deliver on his promise that the Dreamers would be happy with whatever he was going to propose for them, that he was going to do right by the Dreamers,” the archbishop said, referring to the nickname given to those brought to the United States illegally as minors. “I think that if he does follow through on that, then we’re in a better position.”