Kasich calls on "reasonable Republicans and Democrats" to solve DACA
Republican Governor John Kasich of Ohio says that a six-month window for Congress to compose legislation to handle the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program should instead take "six hours" to get accomplished by "reasonable" members of Congress.
"Congress has six months, it should take six hours to get this done, and the way I think they need to do it, they need reasonable Republicans and Democrats from the middle and build out a solution to this," Kasich said on "CBS This Morning" on Wednesday.
Kasich added that the so-called "Dreamers" should have "permanent resident status and they ought to stay and be able to contribute."
The often outspoken governor called the DACA program a "simple moral issue" that can't be solved by political extremists on both sides of the aisle, but instead crafted by "common sense, normal thinking Americans."
While many DACA recepients are now concerned about their own legal status, fearful of possible deportations as a result of the administration's rescinding of the 2012 order, Kasich says "Dreamers" have a home in Ohio.
"We're putting kids, young people in jeopardy, this is not the America that we all love, this is a melting pot," he said. "If the dreamers want to go somewhere and live, come to Ohio, we want all the immigrants to come to Ohio, we know how much immigrants contribute."
Mr. Trump reiterated in a late Tuesday tweet that it is now Congress' responsibility to formulate comprehensive immigration reform. Kacish suggested the reform should entail small-scale fixes as opposed to broad, sweeping reforms, and he said how he would handle DACA if he were in the Oval Office.
"If I were president I would have told those states let's go to court, let's get it done, you're intent on shipping kids out of here? Alright sue me, because I'm going to expose you for what you are, because you're putting kids at risk, it's outrageous states are doing this," Kasich said.
The governor's message to Congress and Republican leaders now tasked with the problem: "Go fix it, get it done, lead."