An executive order in 2012 was signed by Obama, who was president at the time, creating a program called DACA.  DACA stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and it protects immigrants who were minors when their parents brought them to America illegally. While this program does not allow the children to become legal citizens in the United States, it does allow them to work, go to school and avoid deportation as they go through the long process of applying for citizenship.

Currently, President Donald Trump is looking to end DACA and deport all the children who are under this program. If he succeeds, the U.S. will send all of these people back to countries that most of them do not know or speak the language of. Rescinding DACA would also mean deporting recipients of DACA who are members of the military and currently risking their lives for the country that wants them to leave.

Rather than focusing on DACA, Trump should be using the energy, money and resources it would take to go through with this plan to focus on other domestic issues and help people that have just experienced devastation from Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria. Instead, Trump is still talking about building a wall that could end up costing 67 billion dollars and deporting all recipients of DACA, which could cost around 7.5 billion dollars.

The fact that all of this is happening while the world is devastated by natural disasters adds insult to injury. On Aug. 25, 2017 Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas and flooded many areas claiming about 70 lives and destroying between 30,000 and 40,000 homes. When Irma struck Florida, at least 30 were left dead and millions were without power. About a week later Hurricane Maria came and devastated Puerto Rico; tourists and residents were stranded with nowhere to evacuate to and 70 percent of households were left without power. Puerto Rico was especially hard hit because their infrastructure was already weak.

Now, while all of this devastation is happening with the states and territories, what is Trump doing? He is investing his time and taxpayer money in deporting immigrants who possibly had no say in whether they came into this country legally or illegally. They are children whose parents just wanted to make a better life for their family, children who are now working and contributing to our economy, some even risking their lives for this country.

Trump needs to shift focus to things that actually matter, not waste time on the innocent who contribute to our society.