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Los Angeles metro area is home to the most DACA beneficiaries

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The LA metro area has strong ties to the program

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With the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program on the chopping block, the New York Times on Tuesday took a look at the profile of a typical Dreamer and found that the highest percentage live in the Los Angeles metro area.

According to Department of Homeland Security data, the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim area is home to 14 percent, or 71,900, of the nearly 800,000 DACA beneficiaries—the highest percentage of any metro area in the U.S. (The Department of Homeland Security has not released detailed geographic data for DACA participants since the first year, the Times says.)

Implemented in 2012, DACA allows for people who were brought into the United States illegally by their parents as children to receive a temporary stay on deportation, to study, and to get work permits if they meet certain requirements.

On Tuesday, Trump said he would end DACA in six months unless Congress can “find a more permanent solution.”

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti was quick to criticize that decision, saying rolling back the program “threatens to tear families apart, puts our economy at risk, and will do nothing to unify America or make us more secure.”

The Los Angeles Times reports that thousands marched in Downtown yesterday to show their support for the people enrolled in DACA. The march, originally intended to end at the federal building Downtown instead stopped in front of City Hall.