--- title: DACA: John McCain Opposes Donald Trump's Decision to Rescind description: Arizona Senator John McCain rebuked the Trump administration's decision to rescind the DACA program, calling it the "wrong approach." canonical: https://time.com/4928403/john-mccain-daca-immigration-donald-trump-barack-obama/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-09-05T22:12:31.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T17:17:47.802Z article:section: Politics og:title: John McCain: Trump's Decision to Rescind DACA Is 'Unacceptable' og:description: McCain called the decision "the wrong approach to immigration policy" og:url: https://time.com/4928403/john-mccain-daca-immigration-donald-trump-barack-obama/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd6f29a91553e30f5/6988dc44e76ad227b562f021/john-mccain-italy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3568 og:image:height: 2007 og:image:alt: Key Speakers At The Ambrosetti Forum og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: John McCain: Trump's Decision to Rescind DACA Is 'Unacceptable' twitter:description: McCain called the decision "the wrong approach to immigration policy" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd6f29a91553e30f5/6988dc44e76ad227b562f021/john-mccain-italy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # John McCain: President Trump's Decision to Rescind DACA Is 'Unacceptable' > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Sep 5, 2017 10:12 PM UTC  Senator John McCain, a Republican from Arizona, leaves after a session during the Ambrosetti Forum in Cernobbio, Italy, on Saturday, Sept. 2, 2017. Senator John McCain, a Republican from Arizona, leaves after a session during the Ambrosetti Forum in Cernobbio, Italy, on Saturday, Sept. 2, 2017. Bloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Sep 5, 2017 10:12 PM UTC Arizona Sen. John McCain strongly rebuked the Trump administration’s decision to rescind the DACA program, calling it the “wrong approach” and urging Congress to successfully pass bipartisan immigration reform. “While I disagreed with President Obama’s unilateral action on this issue, I believe that rescinding DACA at this time is an unacceptable reversal of the promises and opportunities that have been conferred to these individuals,” [McCain said in a statement Tuesday.](https://www.mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=press-releases&id=E1DFA7A9-1FCA-4F7D-8CDC-F84E00599E47) “The federal government has a responsibility to defend and secure our borders, but we must do so in a way that upholds all that is decent and exceptional about our nation.” Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced on Tuesday that the administration had decided to phase out Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, widely known as DACA. The program, which President Obama implemented as an executive action in 2012, enabled undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as minors with their parents, colloquially known as “Dreamers,” to apply for a two year renewable work permit. The program, which also protects them from deporation, benefited nearly 800,000 recipients. In a written statement announcing his decision, Trump said his adminsitration would defer to Congress on a legislative solution. “Congress now has the opportunity to advance responsible immigration reform that puts American jobs and American security first,” he wrote. Obama denounced Trump’s move in a Tuesday Facebook post, writing that he had implemented DACA through executive action because he had asked Congress to pass similar legislation, but they failed to do so. That legislation, also known as the DREAM Act, had bipartisan support, but was unable to pass both houses of Congress. McCain said in his statement that his work on immigration reform, which he said he expects to be bipartisan, will include the DREAM Act. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4928403/john-mccain-daca-immigration-donald-trump-barack-obama/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4928403/john-mccain-daca-immigration-donald-trump-barack-obama/"},"headline":"John McCain: President Trump's Decision to Rescind DACA Is 'Unacceptable'","datePublished":"2017-09-05T22:12:31.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T17:17:47.802Z","description":"“President Trump’s decision to eliminate DACA is the wrong approach to immigration policy\"","url":"https://time.com/4928403/john-mccain-daca-immigration-donald-trump-barack-obama/","keywords":["Immigration","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd6f29a91553e30f5/6988dc44e76ad227b562f021/john-mccain-italy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alana Abramson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd6f29a91553e30f5/6988dc44e76ad227b562f021/john-mccain-italy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Key Speakers At The Ambrosetti Forum","caption":"Key Speakers At The Ambrosetti Forum","creditText":"Bloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/immigration/","name":"Immigration"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4928403/john-mccain-daca-immigration-donald-trump-barack-obama/","name":"John McCain: President Trump's Decision to Rescind DACA Is 'Unacceptable'"}}]}] ```