September 21, 2017

_Annie Jennemann is a freshman journalism and English major at MU. She is an opinions columnist who writes about politics for The Maneater._

Donald Trump’s mind has been elsewhere the past few weeks, focusing on ending the DACA program rather than making the main focus about the destruction caused by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Natural disasters such as these destroyed the homes of thousands of Americans. It is the job of the president of the United States to take action and focus on rebuilding these parts of the country. How can America be great if thousands of Americans are now homeless due to the destruction caused by these natural disasters?

Trump’s focus shifted on Sept. 5 when the administration announced the removal of DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. This program was put into place during Barack Obama’s presidency and allowed over 800,000 child immigrants brought to the United States illegally to remain in the country, work and receive an education for five years without the worry of being deported. Trump has said he ended the program out of worry for “the millions of Americans victimized by this unfair system.”

While Trump’s focus is on ending DACA, hurricanes Harvey and Irma have caused $150 to $200 billion in damage to Texas and Florida. This can be compared to the damages of Hurricane Katrina, which caused about $100 billion in damage. Three weeks after Hurricane Harvey struck Houston, 20,000 people still remained in hotels and shelters due to home damage, according to CNN.

Trump must begin to act as the responder-in-chief as the president of the United States in a much more effective way. He has visited Houston twice to survey and hug and shake hands of the victims in a shelter. He has also visited Florida to survey to damage of Hurricane Irma, the more recent natural disaster. Trump has also donated $1 million to Hurricane Harvey relief funds. These are beginning steps to acting as the responder-in-chief; however, more can be done to address the damages of the two hurricanes.

The main thing Trump should be focused on is beginning to rebuild the parts of Texas and Florida that were damaged. Instead, his focus shifted to the removal of children brought to the U.S. to work and receive an education. These 800,000 “DREAMers” may face deportation starting March 6. If Congress does not act in the time frame before this date, the formerly protected DREAMers “would be like any other person who’s in the country illegally,” according to a senior official of the Department of Homeland Security, meaning they may face deportation like the other illegal immigrants not part of the DACA program.

Why should Trump’s focus, especially in the past few weeks, be on sending undocumented immigrants who have worked hard and received educations, back to places they do not know? After all, Trump’s campaign slogan was to “Make America Great Again.” It does not seem so great to neglect the thousands of now-homeless Americans by focusing on ending a program allowing young adults to receive an education and work for this country.

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