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LA Mayor Calls On DACA Supporters To Contact White House

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is urging Angelenos to contact the White House directly to voice their opposition to a possible plan to phase out deportation protection for immigrants who were brought to the country illegally as children.

Garcetti made the plea during a media call with other mayors from the United States Conference of Mayors Latino Alliance amid speculation that President Donald Trump may cancel the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program enacted by the Obama administration.

"The American Dream belongs first to our children," Garcetti said. "DACA has given hundreds of thousands of hard-working, ambitious young people new hope of building lives in America -- and spared scores of families the heartbreak of separation. We will do everything we can to help at the local level, but the president and Congress should act now to give them the security
and peace of mind that everyone deserves."

Joined by 60 other mayors from across the U.S. who want Trump to keep DACA in place, Garcetti - who chairs the panel - said
he hopes to bolster the Los Angeles Police Department's Special Order 40, which prohibits officers from detaining anyone specifically to determine their immigration status.

"Every Angeleno should feel secure in the community they call home," Garcetti said. "Keeping all of L.A.'s neighborhoods safe means working relentlessly to build trust between police and the people they serve. The LAPD will never act as a federal immigration force, and I am committed to finding new ways we can reinforce that policy so that fewer people live in fear."

According to the mayor's office, DACA recipients number in the tens of thousands across the Los Angeles region.

(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)

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