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Khator signs name in statement aiding Dreamers

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Names of more educational institutions are expected to appear as the list will be refreshed twice — at the end of Tuesday and next Monday. | Screenshot taken from Pomona College website/The Cougar

UH has joined a growing number of colleges and universities in the country to continue assisting students under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Program.

On Tuesday evening, Mike Rosen, UH’s executive director of media relations, said that President and Chancellor Renu Khator has signed a statement from Pomona College President David Oxtoby that asks U.S. leaders to sustain DACA and offers to discuss the matter with them, if needed.

“The University will continue to support all of its students, including those covered under DACA, through any means afforded under federal law,” Rosen said in an email.

According to the Pomona College’s website, the statement, which was posted Monday, has garnered more than 200 signatures from the presidents of both public and private higher-education institutions around the country.

Michael Olivas, the interim president of the University of Houston-Downtown, is among the signatories.

Other signatures from Texas include the leaders of Rice University, Baylor College of Medicine, Austin College, Concordia University Texas, the University of Texas System and more.

Pomona College’s website said the list will be updated twice — at the end of Tuesday and next Monday.

President Barack Obama put DACA into effect via executive action in 2012. DACA allows undocumented immigrants who entered the U.S. before their 16th birthday to, temporarily, avoid deportation, receive work authorization and obtain a Social Security number.

Those in the program, collectively known as Dreamers, may apply for a period of two years and are subjected to renewal. There are 750,000 immigrants in DACA.

Dreamers are worried that President-elect Donald Trump will dismantle the program once in office.

“We will immediately terminate President Obama’s two illegal executive amnesties in which he defied federal law and the Constitution to give amnesty to approximately 5 million illegal immigrants, 5 million,” Trump said in August.

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