The leader of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce resigned Tuesday from President Trump’s diversity coalition, following the administration’s announcement that it would wind down an immigration program designed to protect undocumented immigrants who were brought to the country as children.
“This disgraceful action goes against not only the values of this country, but also against the promise of this administration to focus homeland security resources towards individuals who have committed violent crimes and pose a threat to communities across the country,” he said in a statement.
Javier Palomarez said his group “vehemently opposed” Trump’s decision to end the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
Rescinding the program, he said, was “inhumane and economically harmful.”
In a statement after Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the U.S. would rescind the program, Palomarez said, “this disgraceful action goes against not only the values of this country, but also against the promise of this administration to focus homeland security resources towards individuals who have committed violent crimes and pose a threat to communities across the country.”
The diversity coalition from which Palomarez resigned was created during the 2016 presidential election, as an answer to critics who said then-candidate Trump was anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim.
Palomarez insisted that the president had misled the so-called “Dreamers” who would be affected by end of DACA.
“Let’s lay the truth bare: President Trump has knowingly deceived the American people over the past seven months abotu his intentions to protect the innocent young men and women of the DACA program,” Palomarez said.
“‘Rest easy,’ (Trump) assured Dreamers, while clarifying that his administration was ‘not after Dreamers, we are after criminals.’ Now they cannot rest easy. Now they will be awake at night, wondering whether tomorrow will be their last day on American soil.”
Additionally, Palomarez, citing a study by the CATO Institute, called Trump’s decision “reckless economic policy” that would lead to a larger undocumented population and result in $280 billion in lost economic growth over the next 10 years.