Saying “this is not the America we all love,” John Kasich savaged President Donald Trump’s decision to rescind a program protecting the children of undocumented immigrants from deportation.

"If the 'Dreamers' want to go somewhere and live, come to Ohio," the governor said during an appearance Wednesday on CBS This Morning.

“This is a crisis for people who are now living on the edge of their seats saying, ‘What am I supposed to do? Are they going to ship me out of the country that I have come to love and participate in?'

“This is the United States of America and we’re putting kids, young people who are contributors, in jeopardy,” Kasich said.

The estimated 800,000 children of undocumented immigrants who arrived with their parents in the U.S., including more than 4,000 in Ohio, should not be threatened with the elimination of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program enacted by former President Barack Obama, Kasich said.

Dreamers didn’t choose to come here, but they made the best of it. We should welcome them – Ohio welcomes them. pic.twitter.com/gZKgsnIcgb

— John Kasich (@JohnKasich) September 6, 2017

The “Dreamers” are productive U.S. citizens who contribute to society and the economy and are welcome to bring their talents to Ohio, Kasich said.

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“This is a simple moral issue,” said the governor, who while campaigning against Trump in the Republican primaries last year supported a path to legal residency for undocumented immigrants. “Take this cloud from over their heads.”

Trump said he would give Congress — unable to reach a significant accord on immigration in decades — six months to craft a to the DACA program that could permit younger immigrants to remain in the U.S.

“It should take six hours, not six months,” Kasich said, calling on “reasonable” Republicans and Democrats to work together to ensure mass deportations do not occur. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, said he wanted to fix DACA, prompting Kasich to say: “Go fix it. Get it done. Lead.”

Noting some states are threatening to sue over killing DACA, Kasich said, “If I were president, I would have told those states ‘Let’s go to court, let’s get it on … I’m going to expose you for what you are because you are putting kids at risk.’ “

Following the Paris terrorist attacks in 2015, Kasich cited security concerns in asking Obama to stop resettling Syrian refugees in the U.S. Kasich was critical, however, when Trump issued his legally challenged travel ban on residents of Muslim-majority countries early this year.

Kasich continued to shoot down questions implying he was interested in challenging Trump in 2020. He said an independent bid would be unlikely to succeed with the possible exception of the likes of billionaire Michael Bloomberg to self-fund a presidential campaign.

rludlow@dispatch.com

@RandyLudlow

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