Gov. John Kasich said on Wednesday it should take “reasonable” members of Congress “six hours” to find a solution for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
"Congress has six months, it should take six hours to get this done, and the way I think they need to do it, they need reasonable Republicans and Democrats from the middle and build out a solution to this," Kasich said on “CBS This Morning.”
Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Tuesday announced an end to DACA, which protects young, undocumented immigrants from deportation.
Catholic Charities of Southwest Ohio estimates there are about 3,000 DACA recipients in Greater Cincinnati.
Kasich said the so-called “Dreamers” should have “permanent resident status” so they can “stay and be able to contribute.”
The end of DACA fulfills one of President Donald Trump's campaign promises, while also giving Congress time to act -- and, in fact, urging legislators to do so.
Trump tweeted Tuesday that Congress has six months to “legalize DACA.”
Congress now has 6 months to legalize DACA (something the Obama Administration was unable to do). If they can't, I will revisit this issue!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 6, 2017
The end of the program leaves many DACA recipients concerned they will be deported.
Xavier University student Jose Cabrera came to the United States from Mexico when he was 4 years old.
The end of DACA, he said, means young immigrants have to “fight harder.”
MORE: Greater Cincinnati DACA recipients ready for a fight to stay in United States
Kasich said he wants immigrants to know they have a home in Ohio.
"We're putting kids, young people in jeopardy, this is not the America that we all love, this is a melting pot," he said on CBS."If the dreamers want to go somewhere and live, come to Ohio, we want all the immigrants to come to Ohio, we know how much immigrants contribute."
