Date: Friday, September 1, 2017
To: President Trump
From: NYU President Andrew Hamilton

Dear President Trump,

I write to urge you to keep in place the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

As an educator, I can attest to the vibrancy, talent, and ambition that the Dreamers bring to the classroom, the laboratory, and the campus. Their story is, in fact, a genuinely American story: they have earned their places on our nation's campuses through merit and hard work. And as an immigrant myself, I can attest to their love of country, their embrace of its values, their desire to contribute to its welfare, and their hope to see it live up to its highest principles.

As you consider what steps to take next with DACA, let me also ask you—father to father—to consider the following: What if it were your family? What if your family were at risk of being split apart? What if your children, through no fault of their own, were at risk of losing the only home they knew?  I believe any father would wish to prevent that befalling another father's family, if he could.

You can. DACA has been working well. The Dreamers belong here; they are, as you yourself have noted, "incredible kids."  

The right course for these young people and their families, for our university communities, and for our country is to maintain DACA unaltered. I hope your administration will do so. Few things would be more at odds with our national ideals than punishing the innocent. And compassion is a particularly potent and noble American quality.

Sincerely,

Andrew Hamilton

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