PHILADELPHIA— Mayor Jim Kenney has issued the following statement regarding his decision to sign on to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s letter to President-elect Trump encouraging him to keep Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in place. The DACA program helps ensure qualified undocumented youth can seek higher education, work and engage in military service without fear of deportation.

“Philadelphia strongly supports DACA and encourages Congress to pass meaningful immigrant reform so our country can fully benefit from the positive social and economic impacts of our immigrants. The young beneficiaries of the DACA program are a constant inspiration in their pursuit of the American dream, and there has never been a more important time than now to defend this policy and support Philadelphia’s ‘DREAMers’.”