The Spark

Smart Talk 09/08/2017: DACA's future/Prepared for disaster?


Listen Later

This week President Trump ordered an end to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. The program was installed by former President Obama to protect young adults brought to the U.S. illegally as youths from deportation. Obama was criticized for enacting the program via executive order.
About 800,000 young people are registered for the program which allows them to legally work and attend school. Those that fall under DACA will have a six-month grace period before their protected status is terminated.
The president wants Congress to address DACA during those six months. Trump claims to support the DACA recipients, insisting the program needs to be voted into law to maintain legal legitimacy. A day after the announcement was made, Trump tweeted that he would be willing to address the issue if Congress was unable to pass legislation.
The message is troubling to the DACA participants, known as "DREAMers," who are unsure of their future in America. Many of them have no memory of life in their native country or have any ties at all.
Friday's Smart Talk discusses what lies in store for DREAMers in Central Pennsylvania with Carrie Carranza, Legal Immigration Counselor and Program Advocate with Church World Services in Lancaster. We'll also speak with Carlos Apolfo Gonzalez, a coordinator with the Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition and a DACA participant about his concerns as well as his hope for a positive solution to the issue.
We're also joined by with Jill Family, a Widener University Commonwealth Law Professor of Law and Government, about the legal options for DREAMers and how they can protect themselves until the program can be renewed.
Also on the Friday program -- as Hurricane Irma bears down on the United States this weekend the question arises as to whether the U.S. is prepared for disasters like Irma or Hurricane Harvey that flooded Texas and the Gulf Coast tw weeks ago.
Robert Wheelersburg (Ph.D.) worked with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and now teaches at Elizabethtown College, including a course on emergency operations in disaster response.
...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

The SparkBy WITF, Inc.

  • 4.5
  • 4.5
  • 4.5
  • 4.5
  • 4.5

4.5

31 ratings


More shows like The Spark

View all
The Moth by The Moth

The Moth

27,172 Listeners

Left, Right & Center by KCRW

Left, Right & Center

5,125 Listeners

The Daily by The New York Times

The Daily

112,858 Listeners

Up First from NPR by NPR

Up First from NPR

56,917 Listeners

Criminology by Emash Digital & Mike Ferguson, Mike Morford

Criminology

7,010 Listeners

Crime Junkie by Audiochuck

Crime Junkie

369,420 Listeners

Today, Explained by Vox

Today, Explained

10,259 Listeners

Life Kit by NPR

Life Kit

4,821 Listeners

Today in PA | A PennLive daily news briefing with Claudia Dimuro by PennLive

Today in PA | A PennLive daily news briefing with Claudia Dimuro

101 Listeners

HISTORY This Week by The HISTORY® Channel | Back Pocket Studios

HISTORY This Week

4,193 Listeners

The Morning Agenda by WITF, Inc.

The Morning Agenda

24 Listeners