An announcement Tuesday morning from the Trump Administration that it will be ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) immigration policy has elicited spirited response from Virginia’s Democratic delegation in Congress.
DACA, implemented by President Barack Obama in 2012, allows nearly 800,000 undocumented immigrants living in the United States to apply for renewable two-year visas. It is available to individuals who arrived in the United States before the year 2007 who were under the age of 16 at the time of arrival and under the age of 31 at the time of implementation.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions made the announcement Tuesday morning on behalf of the Administration. Afterward, both of Virginia’s senators released statements of outrage on their Twitter accounts. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) says the decision is “heartless.”
Ending DACA is a heartless decision that breaks the President's promise to kids who were brought here through no fault of their own
— Senator Tim Kaine (@timkaine) September 5, 2017
Rescinding DACA forces #DREAMers back into the shadows & puts them in danger of being deported from the country they love & know as home
— Senator Tim Kaine (@timkaine) September 5, 2017
In the wake of the President’s heartless decision to end DACA, Congress must immediately pass the bipartisan DREAM Act to protect #DREAMers
— Senator Tim Kaine (@timkaine) September 5, 2017
The DREAM (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) Act has been introduced several times in Congress in recent years. The current version was introduced in July by Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). It would institute a multi-phase process for qualifying alien minors (so-called “DREAMers”) in the United States that would first grant conditional residency and, upon meeting further qualifications, permanent residency.
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), in his statement, said DACA is a “promise” that has allowed children of undocumented immigrants to “realize their full potential.”
This is a disgrace. Ending #DACA means going back on our word to nearly 800k #DREAMers who've known no other home than America. #DefendDACA pic.twitter.com/nEmpaMe8gM
— Mark Warner (@MarkWarner) September 5, 2017
In a statement released following Sessions’ remarks, President Donald Trump said DACA has “helped spur a humanitarian crisis — the massive surge of unaccompanied minors from Central America including, in some cases, young people who would become members of violent gangs throughout our country, such as MS-13.”
The decades-long failure of Washington, D.C. to enforce federal immigration law has had both predictable and tragic consequences: lower wages and higher unemployment for American workers, substantial burdens on local schools and hospitals, the illicit entry of dangerous drugs and criminal cartels, and many billions of dollars a year in costs paid for by U.S. taxpayers. Yet few in Washington expressed any compassion for the millions of Americans victimized by this unfair system. Before we ask what is fair to illegal immigrants, we must also ask what is fair to American families, students, taxpayers, and jobseekers.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) took a trip with Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld on the Silver Line today to check on the progress of its construction, WTOP reported.
The senator got on a train at Tysons Corner and rode it to the Wiehle-Reston East station. He then took a bus to Dulles International Airport, which is one of six future Silver Line stops.
“I’m very excited to see it,” Kaine said, according to WTOP. “It’s just a necessary project to keep up with the growth of Northern Virginia.”
Photo via Twitter/Tim Kaine
When Hillary Clinton selected Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine as her Democratic Vice Presidential Candidate Thursday evening, it marked the first time since Woodrow Wilson that a Virginian is on the national ticket.
Virginia may be the mother of presidents — it’s had eight, more than any other state — just not in 100 years or so. And the last vice president from Virginia was John Tyler, who served for 30 days and then was vaulted to president upon the death of William Henry Harrison.
I’m thrilled to announce my running mate, @TimKaine, a man who’s devoted his life to fighting for others. -H pic.twitter.com/lTVyfztE5Z
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) July 23, 2016
Kaine, 58, has represented Virginia in the U.S Senate since 2012. Prior to that he served as Virginia governor (2006-10) and Mayor of Richmond. He has a law degree from Harvard and spent a year as a Catholic missionary in Honduras (where he learned to speak fluent Spanish). He is also a former Democratic National Committee Chairman.
Kaine’s early legal career was spent in Richmond, representing clients in fair housing and racial discrimination cases. His attention to civil rights is one factor that makes him “a Reston kind of guy,” says Virginia Del. Ken Plum (D-Reston).
“Tim Kaine is a Reston kind of guy,” said Plum. “He made his mark early on in civil rights litigation. The kind of things our community stands for are the kind of things Tim Kaine stands for.”
Kaine and Clinton spoke together last week at Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale.
Kaine has made many appearances in Reston in recent years. He sat next to Reston founder Bob Simon at Simon’s 100th birthday celebration in April of 2014. He praised Simon as a visionary in creating an integrated new town in a divided south.
“In 1964, when Reston opened, discrimination was rampant and legal,” Kaine said that day at Lake Anne Plaza. “It wasn’t until 1968 that the federal Fair Housing Act was passed. It wasn’t until 1971 that the Virginia General Assembly passed the South’s first fair housing law. Bob [Simon] was a real visionary.
“When we look at Virginia history since World War II, Bob should be one of the five or six individuals [we talk about]. Bob took a state that was facing backward and turned it facing forward.”
Kaine also spoke at Simon’s celebration of life last April. Read More
Presumptive Democratic Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton will likely make her pick for vice president on Friday or Saturday, and a familiar name keeps surfacing among the frontrunners: Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine (D).
Kaine, 58, is said to be among the top two Clinton is considering as the Democratic National Convention gets closer. The DNC is next week in Philadelphia.
The other top contender, according to The Washington Post, is Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
Clinton and Kaine campaigned together last week in Annandale.
Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said on Wednesday Kaine would be someone President Obama would recommend to Clinton as a vice-presidential pick.
Kaine attended Harvard Law School and was a Catholic missionary in Honduras (he is fluent in Spanish) before entering politics. He has served as Mayor of Richmond, Governor of Virginia and was elected to the senate in 2012.
Here is what would happen to Kaine’s Senate seat should he become VP.
Kaine will be in Northern Virginia all day today. In the morning, Kaine will host a roundtable discussion in Arlington with local advocacy groups on immigration reform. In the afternoon, he will host a roundtable discussion at the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS) in Sterling with leaders of the Northern Virginia interfaith and civil rights communities to discuss the importance of tolerance and religious freedom in light of recent rhetoric surrounding Muslim communities in America.
Would adding Kaine to the ticket influence your vote? Take our poll.
Presumptive Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton will be in Fairfax County on Thursday, where she will campaign with Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine.
The appearance is from 1:15 to 4:30 p.m. at Ernst Gymnasium at Northern Virginia Community College,  8333 Little River Turnpike, Annandale.
Want to attend? Go to Clinton’s website and RSVP to get more details.
The Clinton campaign says the two “will discuss their shared commitment to building an America that is stronger together, while emphasizing that Donald Trump’s divisive agenda would be dangerous for America.”
Kaine, 58, is the junior senator from Virginia (elected in 2012) and was formerly Virginia’s governor. He has been mentioned by several national news sources as a possible vice presidential pick for Clinton.
Clinton should be making her pick for VP anytime between the end of the Republican National Convention July 21 and the start of the Democratic National Convention July 25.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) visited Reston’s Lake Anne Elementary School on Wednesday, where he discussed with administrators issues such as the need for more mental health services and early childhood education resources.
Kaine visited the school, which has a large Spanish-speaking population as well as a Spanish Immersion program, as part of Hispanic Heritage Month.
After the meeting, Kaine joined three classes — a first grade, a Spanish immersion, and a Head Start class — where he talked to students read to them in English and Spanish. Kaine is fluent in Spanish after spending time doing mission work in Honduras in the early 1980s.
Photo by Sarah Peck/Office of Tim Kaine
