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International

Mattis says U.S. service members in DACA will generally not be deported

11:45, Friday, 09 February, 2018
Mattis says U.S. service members in DACA will generally not be deported

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Thursday that service members in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program will not be deported, other than a few exceptions, even as lawmakers debate the fate of children brought to the United States illegally.

Until now, the fate of about 800 service members in the program had not been clear.

“We would always stand by one of our people, and I have never found the Department of Homeland Security unwilling to take any call from anyone on my staff if we in fact found someone who had been treated unjustly,” he told reporters.

He added that the only exception was if the service member had committed a “serious” felony or a federal judge had signed deportation orders.

Lawmakers have struggled to reach a deal on an immigration bill, despite broad public support for helping Dreamers.

Trump has said any immigration deal must include billions of dollars to build a wall on the border with Mexico.

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