CBS Laments ‘Dream Denied’ for Illegals After ‘Somber’ Election

February 2nd, 2017 4:12 PM

CBS This Morning's Omar Villafranca on Thursday reported on the “somber” reality some young illegals face after the 2016 presidential election. The journalist went to a Texas high school to report on what a network graphic sympathetically called a “dream denied.” 

Villafranca looked at Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (or DACA) and explained, “We talked to several [students] and they say they've been living in fear since the day after the election.” He encouraged YES Prep Gulfton School Director Corey Crouch to openly speak out against Donald Trump: “What was the mood like with your students after the election?” 

“It was somber,” she replied. Crouch then argued, “They [children who were brought to America illegally] need to be allowed to stay and they should have a path to citizenship.” Of the students, Villafranca offered, “Their American dreams started after arriving illegally in the U.S. as children.” 

The CBS graphic pleaded, CBS Graphic: "A Dream Denied? Undocumented Children Fear Possible Deportation."

The only hint of opposition came when the journalist talked to a representative of Center for Immigration Studies: 

OMAR VILLAFRANCA: Critics say the program encourages illegal immigration and point to the recent surge in undocumented minors caught crossing the border.

MARK KRIKORIAN (Executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies): The problem is, DACA is illegal. 

A transcript of the February 2 segment is below: 

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CBS This Morning 
2/2/17
7:36AM ET

CHARLIE ROSE: Secretary Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly visited the U.S. border in his first trip as a member of the U.S. cabinet. He had a helicopter tour of the Rio Grande valley yesterday and met with security officials. It comes as the Trump administration considers the fate of hundreds of young immigrants who came to the country illegally. Omar Villafranca is at a school in Houston where many students are worried about what comes next. Omar, good morning. 
        
CBS Graphic: A Dream Denied? Undocumented Children Fear Possible Deportation

OMAR VILLAFRANCA: Good morning. In 2012, President Obama signed an executive order that protected immigrants who came over the border illegally as children. Well, here, at YES Prep Gulfton teachers estimate about a third of the high schoolers that roam this hallway are under that protection. And we talked to several of them and they say they've been living in fear since the day after the election. 

FRANCIESCA MEDRANO: You didn’t know at any moment that if you were in class, like immigration could come for you. And I was scared that could’ve happened to me, that I was in class learning and, like, immigration could’ve came for me.

VILLAFRANCA: Francisca Medrano  and her classmate Olga Lopez and Brandon Martinzez were all born in Mexico and raised in Texas. The three seniors plan to go to college in the fall. But their American dreams started after arriving illegally in the U.S. as children. They've been living under the protection of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.  

MARTINEZ: If Trump gets rid of DACA, they have our information, our addresses, and all of that stuff, so they can easily find us and get us and deport us

VILLAFRANCA: The feds have protected more than 750,000 people from deportation under DACA. Those eligible were born after the summer of 1981, came to the U.S. before their 16th birthday, and meet certain qualifications, like having no felony convictions.

DONALD TRUMP: Anyone who has entered the United States is subject to deportation. 

VILLAFRANCA: On the campaign trail he's talked about ending the program but since then has softened his tone. 

VILLAFRANCA: They should be very worried. They are here illegally. They should be very worried. I do have a big heart. 

VILLAFRANCA: Critics say the program encourages illegal immigration and point to the recent surge in undocumented minors caught crossing the border.

MARK KRIKORIAN (Executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies): The problem is, DACA is illegal. 

VILLAFRANCA: Mark Krikorian is the executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank that supports tighter controls on immigration. He wants the DACA program shut down, in hopes it would force lawmakers to come up with a permanent fix. 

KRIKORIAN: Just get it over with: rip off the Band-Aid and give them green cards

VILLAFRANCA: In exchange, he said lawmakers should require the use of the e-verify system to confirm employment eligibility, and to impose restrictions so DACA recipients can’t sponsor family members for immigration in the future. What was the mood like with your students after the election? 

COREY CROUCH (YES Prep Gulfton School Director): It was somber. 

VILLAFRANCA: YES Prep Gulfton School Director Corey Crouch says it's been heartbreaking to see her students so upset. 

CROUCH: They need to be allowed to stay and they should have a path to citizenship.

LOPEZ: My life is made here. I’m trying to go to college here. And it’s, like, devastating to know that we have to go somewhere else.

VILLAFRANCA: We don't know what will happen. That all depends what President Trump decides and what lawmakers will do. It is worth noting that a bipartisan group of lawmakers has co-sponsored a bill called the Bridge Act, which  would protect young immigrants from deportation for another three years. Gayle?