The San Juan Daily Star

January 20-22, 2017

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Even Before Taking Office, Trump Has Changed the Presidency D

onald Trump enters the White House today just as he entered the race for president: defiant, unfiltered, unbound by tradition and utterly confident in his chosen course. In the 10 weeks since his surprise election as the nation’s 45th president, Trump has violated decades of established diplomatic protocol, sent shockwaves through business boardrooms, tested long-standing ethics rules and continued his combative style of replying to any slight with a personal attack — on Twitter and in person. Past presidents have described walking into the Oval Office for the first time as a humbling experience, one that in an instant makes clear the weight of their new role as caretaker of American democracy. Trump spent much of his transition making clear he sees things differently: Rather than change for the office, he argues, the office will change for him. “They say it’s not presidential to call up these massive leaders of business,” Trump told a crowd in Indianapolis in December. That was after he negotiated a deal with an air conditioning company to keep jobs in the state, a move many economists derided as unworkable national economic policy. “I think it’s very presidential,” he declared. “And if it’s not presidential, that’s OK. That’s OK. Because I actually like doing it.” Even before he takes the oath of office in an inauguration ceremony that begins at 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time, Trump has changed the very nature of presidency, breaking conventions and upending expectations for the leader of the free world. Advisers who’ve spoken with Trump say the billionaire real estate mogul and reality TV star is aware of the historic nature of his new job. He’s told friends that he’s drawn to the ambition of Ronald Reagan, a Republican, and John F. Kennedy, a Democrat. He’s thinking of spending his first night in the White House sleeping in the Lincoln Bedroom, according to some who dined with him recently in Florida. But Trump also views himself as a kind of “sui generis” president, beholden to no one for his success and modeling himself after no leader who’s come before. Trump has said he’s read no biographies of former presidents. When asked to name his personal heroes in a recent interview, he mentioned his father before replying that he didn’t “like the concept of heroes.” “I don’t think Trump has a great sense of the history of the White House. When you don’t know your history, it’s hard to fully respect the traditions,” said historian Douglas Brinkley, who

recently dined with Trump and other guests at his South Florida club. “This is not somebody who brags about how many history biographies he’s read.” “He’s somebody who brags about it as this is a big event and he’s the maestro,” he said. That’s a shift that thrills his supporters, who elected Trump to shake up what they see as an unresponsive and corrupt federal government in the “swamp” of Washington. “I don’t want him to change” said Iowa state Sen. Brad Zaun, one of Trump’s earliest backers. “One of the reasons that I supported him is that he told it the way it was. He didn’t beat around the bush. He didn’t do the standard political talking points.” Trump won election with that approach, but he’s yet to win over the country. His Electoral College victory was tempered by a loss in the popular vote to Democrat Hillary Clinton by nearly 3 million ballots. The protests planned for the day after his inauguration threaten to draw more people to the National Mall than his official events. Polls over the past week show that Trump is poised to enter the White House as the least popular president in four decades. Democrats remain staunchly opposed to him, independents have not rallied behind him and even Republicans are less enthusiastic than might be expected, according to the surveys. In his typical reaction to poll results he doesn’t like, Trump dismissed them as “rigged” in a Tuesday tweet. It’s exactly that kind of tweet that worries governing experts, lawmakers and other critics, who argue that traditional practices of the presidency protect the health of the American democracy. “With notable exceptions, we’ve had a political culture in which presidents largely respect a series of unwritten rules that help democracy and

the rule of law flourish,” said Brendan Nyhan, a professor of government at Dartmouth College. “What’s striking about Trump is he flouts norms that have previously been respected by both parties on a daily basis. He calls things into question that have never been questioned before.” Since winning the election, Trump has attacked Hollywood celebrities, civil rights icons and political rivals alike. He’s moved markets by going after some companies, while praising others. He’s questioned the legitimacy of American institutions — appearing to trust the word of Russian President Vladimir Putin over the intelligence agencies he’ll soon oversee, engaging in personal fights with journalists as he assails the free press and questioning the results of the election, even though it put him in office. And he’s lambasted the leaders of longstanding allied nations as he questions the post-World War II international order that won the Cold War and maintained peace in Europe for generations. For Trump supporters, that no-holds-barred style is the very reason he won their votes. But for others in the country, it’s a type of leadership they’ve seen before and fear will spread. They point to Maine, where a Trump-like governor has roiled the state’s government with offensive statements, a combative style and little respect for the Legislature, as a warning of what the nation might expect during a Trump administration. Gov. Paul LePage’s confrontational brand of politics has made it harder to pass legislation, build political coalitions or even conduct the basic workings of state government, say legislators and political consultants in the traditionally centrist state. He’s created rifts with would-be Republican allies, demonized the media and tightly controlled basic information. At times, he’s banned the heads of state agencies from appearing before legislative committees, making state budgeting and oversight difficult. “What I’m concerned about nationally is what we’ve seen up here — that the checks and balances we take for granted disappear,” said Lance Dutson, a Republican political strategist who worked to get LePage elected before later speaking out against him. “There are things that are happening up here that I really thought just couldn’t happen.” There are signs that Trump’s actions are already changing the traditions of government in Washington, freeing lawmakers and other officials from long-respected practices of federal politics.

More than 50 House Democrats plan to boycott Trump’s inauguration ceremony, an unprecedented break with the bipartisan tradition of celebrating the peaceful transfer of power. While many Democrats were furious with the outcome of the 2000 election in which Republican George W. Bush defeated Al Gore after recounts and a Supreme Court ruling, they generally attended Bush’s inauguration ceremony. “I will not celebrate a man who preaches a politics of division and hate,” tweeted Keith Ellison, a Minnesota congressman who’s bidding to head the Democratic National Committee. Those who know Trump say the billionaire mogul delights in confounding establishment expectations, even as he craves approval from powerbrokers in New York and Washington. “He was born with a chip on his shoulder, and he is very much the guy from Queens who looked across at Manhattan and envied but also to some degree hated the elites who occupied Manhattan,” said Michael D’Antonio, author of “Never Enough,” a Trump biography. “The way that he wants to disrupt institutions reflects this idea that the institutions haven’t embraced him.” That’s a style that may work better for a CEO of a family corporation — who has little oversight from corporate boards or shareholders — than a president constrained by a system of checks and balances. Former Cabinet officials say the layers of government bureaucracy, myriad regulations and intricacies of Congress will challenge Trump’s style. “A president doesn’t have sweeping, universal authority. It is a very different operation than being a CEO who can fire people and hire people at will,” said Kathleen Sebelius, a Democrat and former health and human services secretary. “He’s never been part of any organization with a framework where institutional rules are in place.” President Barack Obama, who’s offered Trump advice both publicly and privately, said he’s urged the president-elect to hold onto some of the traditions of the office. “The one thing I’ve said to him directly, and I would advise my Republican friends in Congress and supporters around the country, is just make sure that as we go forward certain norms, certain institutional traditions don’t get eroded, because there’s a reason they’re in place,” said Obama, in a recent interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes.” But Trump’s supporters say it’s the institutions and Washington — and not the next president — that must change.

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The San Juan Daily Star

January 20-22, 2017

Inaugural Speeches a Catalog of Plodding Oratory, With Gems Q

uick quiz: Recall a phrase, any phrase, from either inaugural speech of one of America’s most accomplished political orators, President Barack Obama. Come up empty? Sad! Fact is, inaugural speeches are usually not the finest hours in speechmaking, with some towering exceptions brought to us by Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt and one or two others. Most are a lot of word candy, tasty to the crowds but empty calories for history. It’s one thing to be eloquent, another to say something for the ages. And when an inaugural speech does grab hold of the public imagination, history tends to remember it differently than the way it was received at the time. John Kennedy’s 1961 speech impressed the nation as a hawkish take on the Cold War, which he vowed to “pay any price” to win. The dove was overlooked that day. But what counts to generations after him was JFK’s call to public service, punctuated with his fingers jabbing the air: “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.” Some inaugural speeches of note: HUMBLE PIE Thomas Jefferson set a tone of humility in 1801 that many successors emulated, if not as elaborately. Jefferson opened and closed his first inaugural speech by describing his shortcomings and apologizing in advance for all the mistakes he was going to make. That’s not President-elect Donald Trump’s style, to say the least. But there is a common thread between the two: In his second inaugural address, Jefferson griped about his press coverage. Jefferson’s 1801 inauguration marked the republic’s first transition between parties, prompting the nation’s third president to call for unity with the words: “We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists.” You can hear echoes of that in Obama’s memorable 2004 speech to Democrats, when he talked of red states and blue states joined as one united states, before he ran for president. BOOKENDS OF THE CIVIL WAR Lincoln’s first inaugural speech was a long and lawyerly account of how Southern grievances might be resolved without war. He took flight at the end: “We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must

This Jan. 20, 1961, file photo shows President John F. Kennedy delivering his inaugural address after taking the oath of office, on Capitol Hill in Washington. not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.” The Civil War began the next month, April 1861. Lincoln’s second inaugural speech, perhaps the greatest of any, again spoke of reconciliation, this time with the Confederacy all but crushed and his assassination weeks away. There was no bloodlust in the commander in chief. “Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away,” he said, concluding: “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.” TO HEAR HISTORY Ronald Reagan declared “government is not the solution to our problem, government IS the problem.” The line had staying power because it presaged real change, but only pleased his partisans. He also, though, painted a picture with sounds, and in doing so spoke to everyone. When he talked of a Revolutionary general falling to his knees in

the hard snow of Valley Forge, he asked people to hear the crunch. He asked Americans to imagine the patter as Lincoln paced dark hallways, to hear the calls of men at the Alamo shouting encouragement to each other, to think of a settler pushing west and singing. “It is the American sound,” Reagan said, “this most tender music.” TO SEE HISTORY Obama’s “Yes we can” mantra was from the 2008 campaign. “Audacity of Hope” was his book. His riff on red and blue states brought him to national attention four years before he won the White House. But his inaugural addresses were not the sources of his most memorable lines. Eight years ago, he spoke of “gathering clouds and raging storms.” That sounded a bit like President George W. Bush’s flowery and forgotten assertion in 2001 that “an angel still rides in the whirlwind and directs this storm.” Obama spoke of how “we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and begin again the work of remaking America.” If such lines lack transcendence, the speech was momentous nonetheless, because of what the world saw that day: a black man breaking the ultimate barrier and becoming America’s president for the first time. ‘PLENTY IS AT OUR DOORSTEP’ Franklin Roosevelt was sworn in during the depths of the Great Depression. While it’s every president’s job to assure the public better times are coming, no one did it like FDR. In 1933 he promised: “This great nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. “So, first of all,” he continued, “let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” That was the line for the ages. “Only a foolish optimist can deny the dark realities of the moment,” he went on. “Yet our distress comes from no failure of substance. We are stricken by no plague of locusts. Compared with the perils which our forefathers conquered because they believed and were not afraid, we have still much to be thankful for. Nature still offers her bounty and human efforts have multiplied it. Plenty is at our doorstep, but a generous use of it languishes in the very sight of the supply.” It was his way of saying, Yes we can — make America great again.

The San Juan Daily Star

January 20-22, 2017

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Inaugural Things to Watch: The Speech, the Dress and More F rom a morning stop at church through the swearing-in to the last dance of the evening, it’s going to be an inaugural marathon today. Donald Trump will take Washington by storm, no matter what the weather. (Which, by the way, looks like rain.) Some things to watch for on Inauguration Day: 35 or 39? Trump’s oath of office is the only essential today; all the rest is window dressing. The Constitution sets out a 35-word oath for the new president. Some presidents make it 39 by tacking on “so help me God.” There are conflicting stories about when the ad lib started. The National Archives says George Washington added the words when he took the oath at his 1789 inaugural. Some say the first eyewitness account of a president using those words came at Chester Arthur’s inauguration in 1881. Historian Jim Bendat says Washington’s use of the phrase is a myth, but every president since 1933 has done it. THE SPEECH Trump’s inaugural address will set the tone for the launch of his presidency. Will he go the traditional route and offer a message of unity to a divided nation, play the role of disrupter of the established order, or blend a little of both? This won’t be his usual off-the-cuff address. Aides say Trump has taken a big role in writing the speech and has been practicing at Trump Tower. Expect him to keep it short, around 20 minutes or so. AWKWARD When Trump is sworn in, Hillary Clinton will be sitting on the inaugural

platform alongside husband Bill Clinton. She’ll be intent on keeping a poker face, but that’s got to be tough. All eyes will be watching to see whether Trump has any interaction with his vanquished rival, or mentions her in his address. IT’S (NOT) JUST LUNCH Washington ate alone after his 1789 inauguration. Trump will go straight from his swearing-in to a lavish luncheon of Maine lobster and Angus beef for 200 in the Capitol’s Statuary Hall. It’s not just about lunch, though. Good relations between the new president and the Republican-led Congress will be key to the success of the Trump presidency. Early maneuvering has shown Trump and GOP legislators to be on different pages at times about important issues such as taxes and health care. So amid the toast-making and the gift-giving of the day, the legislators and new president will be feeling one another out. POWER MARCH Start your stopwatch. More than 8,000 people will march in the 1.5-mile inaugural parade down Pennsylvania Avenue, from the Capitol to the White House. That’s actually a relatively restrained dose of inaugural pomp. Trump’s team wants to keep the parade to 90 minutes so the new president has time to do some work. The longest parade, with 73 bands and 59 floats, lasted more than four and half hours at Dwight Eisenhower’s first inauguration in 1953. FIRST STEPS Trump aims to squeeze in a little work on his first day in office, perhaps in between the parade and the evening balls. What to watch for: His aides mention possible exe-

cutive actions and perhaps the swearing-in of some members of his Cabinet. BIG LEAGUE? Trump has tweeted that “record numbers” of people are pouring into Washington for his inauguration. That’s doubtful. There are still hotel rooms for rent. And, contrary to Trump’s claims, stores still have plenty of ball gowns to sell. No one believes this inaugural will come close to the estimated 1.8 million people who attended Barack Obama’s first inaugural. But with no official arbiter of crowd counts, expect a post-inaugural tussle over how many people really showed up. DISSENTERS AND BIKERS Protesters turn out for any inauguration. This year, one of the biggest pushbacks against Trump will be the Saturday women’s march, which could draw 200,000 or more people. There will be plenty of action today, though, with some demonstrators aiming to shut down or cause delays at security checkpoints going in to the swearing-in ceremony. And then there are the Bikers for Trump, promising to come in throngs and serve as “a wall of meat” if needed to protect Trump’s supporters.

CELEB WATCH Trump says he’s got the “biggest celebrities in the world” coming to town for his inauguration. Yes, there are A-list celebrities in town — but you may need to check out non-inaugural venues to find them. Trump will have singer Jackie Evancho singing the national anthem at his swearing-in. Performers at his inaugural balls include the Radio City Rockettes, The Piano Guys, 72-year-old Tony Orlando and 81-year-old Sam Moore, from the soul duo Sam and Dave. Over at the nonpartisan Creative Coalition bash, the headliner is Grammy-winning Blues Traveler, and hosts will include Tim Allen and John Leguizamo. Saturday’s women’s march, organized by women dismayed at Trump’s election, will have Scarlett Johansson, America Ferrara, Amy Schumer, Frances McDormand and Zendaya, among others. Thursday’s “Peace Ball” for liberal activists promised Solange and Esperanza Spalding. FASHION POLITICS There’s always intense interest in what the new first lady will wear, both for the swearing-in and to the inaugural balls. This year, it’s not simply a matter of fashion. It’s political. A number of designers have said they don’t want to dress Melania Trump because they disagree with her husbands’ policies. The president-elect has shrugged off such talk and suggested his wife wouldn’t even want to be dressed by some of those who are demurring. Musicians who have agreed to play the inaugural have faced a backlash from Trump critics. Watch to see if the first lady’s designer does, too.

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The San Juan Daily Star

January 20-22, 2017

In Farewell, Obama Sets Red Lines That Would Pull Him Back Into Fray By MICHAEL D. SHEAR and PETER BAKER

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hen President Obama arrived in office eight years ago, the departing President George W. Bush essentially withdrew from public life, declaring that his successor “deserves my silence.” It was an approach that Mr. Obama greatly appreciated but does not intend to follow. At the final news conference of his presidency, Mr. Obama made clear on Wednesday that he finds some ideas advanced by President-elect Donald J. Trump so alarming that he laid out markers that would draw him back into the fray. “There’s a difference between that normal functioning of politics and certain issues or certain moments where I think our core values may be at stake,” Mr. Obama told reporters in the White House briefing room. Mr. Obama continued: “I put in that category if I saw systematic discrimination being ratified in some fashion. I put in that category explicit or functional obstacles to people being able to vote, to exercise their franchise. I’d put in that category institutional efforts to silence dissent or the press. And for me at least, I would put in that category efforts to round up kids who have grown up here and for all practical purposes are American kids, and send them someplace else, when they love this country.” All of his red lines seemed to refer to positions taken in the past by Mr. Trump, foreshadowing the possibility of a periodic clash of ideas over the next four years between current and past presidents. Unlike Mr. Bush, who retreated to Dallas, Mr. Obama plans to move just two miles from the White House after today’s inauguration, the first president to stay in Washington after leaving office since Woodrow Wilson. Mr. Obama did say he was looking forward to some quiet time and does not plan to stay involved in the hurly-burly of politics. He has told advisers and friends that

he wants to be careful not to become such a regular public critic of Mr. Trump that he alienates the mercurial new president. Since the election, the departing president has tried to forge a relationship of sorts with his successor and hopes to keep lines of communication open to privately influence Mr. Trump to the degree that he can. Mr. Obama also used his final formal meeting with reporters in the White House to defend his lame-duck decisions to commute the prison sentence of Chelsea Manning and rescind a preferential immigration policy for Cubans. He sent what he called “a wake-up call” to Israel to make peace with the Palestinians and warned against lifting sanctions against Russia unless it reversed its intervention in Ukraine. He weighed in one more time on gay rights, race relations and war with the Islamic State. The encounter had a last-day-of-school feel to it, as history wrapped up one chapter and prepared to open a new one. Reporters packed the White House briefing room, filling every one of the 49 permanent seats and crowding alongside young White House staff members into the aisles, craning to see Mr. Obama present his final thoughts from behind a podium with the presidential seal. A few of the president’s still-remaining

aides sat wistfully on the side of the room, taking a break from packing their belongings and sending out their personal email addresses and cellphone numbers. Most planned to leave the West Wing for good on Thursday afternoon, making way for their successors in the Trump administration. Mr. Obama faced the cameras and the bright lights for exactly 59 minutes, cracking a small smile occasionally as he methodically worked through his list of reporters and answering their questions one last time with a sense of melancholy. He ignored several reporters who tried to shout out questions, and paid little attention to the inevitable cellphones that interrupted. Having spent more than a decade pursuing, and then occupying, the White House, Mr. Obama appeared to realize that the spotlight was finally swinging away from him: “I’m looking forward to being an active consumer of your work rather than always the subject of it,” he told the reporters. But he also seemed like a man all too aware that a part of his life was ending — perhaps the most invigorating part. Mr. Obama leaves with rising approval ratings but an eight-year legacy that is under attack even before Mr. Trump is inaugurated. He declined to comment on the decision of dozens of congressional Democrats to boycott Mr. Trump’s inauguration. “All I know is I’m going to be there,” he said. “So is Michelle.” Playing to the audience in front of him, Mr. Obama used the occasion to implicitly urge Mr. Trump not to impose harsh new restrictions on the news media. Mr. Trump has had a volatile relationship with reporters for years, and his aides suggested recently that they might move journalists out of the White House briefing room, but they have backed away from the idea for now. While needling reporters for their foibles, Mr. Obama said their presence inside the West Wing was important for democracy.

“Having you in this building has made this place work better,” he told the reporters. “It keeps us honest.” Mr. Obama has frequently clashed with news organizations, and he was aggressive in prosecuting leaks of government information. He also regularly sought to communicate with the public by going around the traditional news media, using social media tools and sitting down for interviews with the hosts of YouTube programs. His clemency for Ms. Manning, the former Army intelligence analyst convicted of leaking American military and diplomatic secrets in 2010, seemed like a late attempt to temper a legacy of pursuing reporters’ sources. Dismissing concerns that he was sending the wrong message to others who then might divulge classified information, Mr. Obama pointed out that Ms. Manning had already served seven years in prison. “First of all, let’s be clear,” he said. “Chelsea Manning has served a tough prison sentence. So the notion that the average person who was thinking about disclosing vital classified information would think that it goes unpunished, I don’t think would get that impression from the sentence that Chelsea Manning has served.” He added: “I feel very comfortable that justice has been served.” He also defended his decision to end a two-decade-old policy allowing Cubans who make it to the United States without a visa to stay. “That was a carry-over of an old way of thinking that didn’t make sense in this day and age,” he said. Mr. Obama signaled that he was ready for some time away from the spotlight. He spoke longingly about celebrating his 25th wedding anniversary. “I want to do some writing,” he said. “I want to be quiet a little bit and not hear myself talk so darn much. I want to spend precious time with my girls. So those are my priorities this year.”

91-Year-Old Man to Attend 18th Presidential Inauguration A lthough he’s a Democrat who voted for Hillary Clinton, a 91-year-old New Jersey man will still be traveling to Washington to witness his 18th presidential inauguration in person.

WCAU-TV reports B. Harold Smick Jr. still can vividly remember Jan. 20, 1941 — the day he witnessed Franklin D. Roosevelt become the only U.S. president sworn into a third term.

That inauguration was the first for the Salem native, who was just 15 when he began the tradition that he will continue today. A bit of an Oval Office junkie, Smick has collected everything from

inaugural buttons to a piece of felt from the stage cover at FDR’s inauguration. Smick says he’s praying President-elect Donald Trump will bring peace, health care and jobs.

The San Juan Daily Star

January 20-22, 2017

A Passport Stamp Gives Dreamers Hope as the Trump Era Looms

Jenifer Guzman Gonzalez, 21, a student, is a beneficiary of the DACA program that grants temporary protection from deportation. By LIZ ROBBINS

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hen the customs agent at Kennedy International Airport stamped Jenifer Guzman Gonzalez’s Mexican passport on Monday, Ms. Guzman was too anxious to look at it. Back at her family’s apartment in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, Ms. Guzman started crying as she flipped to Page 5. “PAROLED,” read the blue-ink stamp from the United States Department of Homeland Security. On the line under the word “Purpose” was the acronym: “DACA.” “I didn’t want to look at it until I got home to savor the moment,” she said. Ms. Guzman came from Mexico to New York at age 4, arriving by night hidden in a van. Now 21 and a sophomore at Hunter College, she had joined 66 others covered by

DACA, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, on a six-day trip to her homeland organized by the City University of New York. The 2012 federal program allows young, undocumented immigrants to remain in the United States temporarily and work legally. It also enables them to apply to travel abroad for humanitarian, educational or employment reasons, and then re-enter the United States, a benefit known as “advance parole.” The stamp in her passport is proof that Ms. Guzman has entered the country legally, which she and others like her are hoping could one day be inoculation against whatever actions Donald J. Trump takes against undocumented immigrants after his inauguration on Friday. He has vowed to end the DACA program. While DACA may be fleeting, the stamp is forever, and for some, it might offer a small future benefit as well: If Ms. Guzman were ever to apply for a green card after marrying an American citizen, she would not have to return to Mexico and risk being turned down, as most immigrants who entered the country illegally currently must do. Adjusting her legal status would be far easier. “There’s not a rush to do anything right now,” Ms. Guzman said on Tuesday, after returning from a conference that also allowed her to visit relatives she left behind in Mexico. Marriage is not on the table. “Just seeing my family was enough for me.” The conference she attended was arranged by the Jaime Lucero Mexican Studies Institute at Lehman College, which teamed up with top universities in Mexico City and

Puebla. A three-day seminar focused on migration between the United States and Mexico, bringing in the experiences of the DACA students, known as Dreamers. Carlos Menchaca, the first Mexican-American on the New York City Council, also participated. Students also had two days to visit with family. To go on the trip, students had to first apply for advance parole. CUNY Citizenship Now, a nonprofit legal organization, helped expedite the applications; since November, Citizenship Now has helped 122 students with DACA get this benefit. Nearly 300 people across the country applied for CUNY’s program, spurred by their fear that the window of opportunity would close. Demand has increased at schools in California, too. Armando Vazquez-Ramos, a professor at California State University, Long Beach, who runs the California-Mexico Studies Center, said he led one of the first DACA class programs to Mexico in 2015. He recently returned from Mexico with 26 students who took a three-week course. High interest led Cal State to expand its program to include students from Northern California and out of state. But critics of DACA see universities as helping to exploit the law. “It’s a way of laundering the status of these illegal immigrants,” said Mark Krikorian, the executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington research institute that supports tighter controls on immigration. “Already giving them work permits and Social Security numbers is a partial laundering

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of their status, and giving them advance parole, to go out and come back, it’s one more step along the road to a full amnesty.” Of the estimated 713,300 individuals covered by the DACA program through Dec. 31, 2015, 22,340 have been approved for advance parole. The immigration agency said those are the most updated statistics. Days after the presidential election, Israel Sanchez applied for a separate trip run by a City College of New York education professor, Tatyana Kleyn. That class spent two weeks in Oaxaca, Mexico. “I just saw it as me taking a step and doing something, instead of just waiting to see what can happen,” said Mr. Sanchez, 20, a Baruch College student who also works for City Councilman Ritchie Torres in the Bronx. He came to New York as a 2-year-old. “I knew that with advance parole, it could open options down the road.” Dr. Kleyn’s long-scheduled course could accommodate only 18 students, and had to turn away applicants. José Higuera López, the interim director of the CUNY Mexican Studies Institute, said that City University wanted to find a way to meet the demand. So in November, he devised the curriculum, prepared an application with an essay asking why students wanted to attend and enlisted CUNY Citizenship Now to help with government approval. The intent was to get students to reconnect with their home country, he said. “We never focused on the advance parole. For us it was, we needed to take them just in case there was no opportunity later on.” The program was organized in such a frenzy in the weeks after the election that it received funding, from an outside nonprofit organization, only in the second week of December, Mr. Higuera said. The grant covered travel, lodging and government application fees for students, while the State Government of Puebla also offered financial assistance.