DACA stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. DACA is an "American immigration policy that allowed some individuals who entered the country as minors, and had either entered or remained in the country illegally, to receive a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation and to be eligible for a work permit. As of 2017, approximately 800,000 individuals—referred to as Dreamers after the DREAM Act bill—were enrolled in the program created by DACA." The policy was established by the Obama administration in June 2012 and the policy was largely rescinded by the Trump administration in September 2017. What should be done now?
David:
DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, is illegal.
This is not just my opinion, but is (or was) the opinion of a former US President and Constitutional law professor.
President Obama said that he, as the Executive of the country, could not just create DACA. It needed to be enacted as law by the Congress. He made this argument very clearly numerous times.
“I’m president, I’m not king,” Barack Obama, October 25, 2010
“I think it’s important to remind everybody that, what I’ve said previously, I am not a king, I am head of the executive branch of government,” Obama said in an interview with Univision. “I am required to follow the law, and that is what we’ve done.” Barack Obama, January 29, 2013
Yet, he then changed that position and created DACA through executive order when the Democrat-led Congress failed to act. Multiple states sued on various grounds, and many cases are still pending before the courts, but so far, the former President's original argument is winning the day. He didn't have the authority to create DACA. In it's current format, DACA isn't legal.
Which brings us to the present. DACA beneficiaries are in a state of limbo that President Obama created. President Trump put the ball squarely in Congress's court, which is where this belonged in the first place. Congress needs to take up the issue (which Democrats could have done when Obama was in office, and had a super-majority in the Senate). President Trump has done the right thing by pressuring Congress to act. President Trump's Executive Order and subsequent rules created a provision that no changes be made to the status of current dreamers for 6 months. If Congress does not act within that time frame, DACA may end. Perhaps that's what Congress needed all along, a deadline.
Doug:
Dealing with DACA is something that Republicans in Congress would rather avoid. They were very happy to have DACA for two reasons:
This is analogous to the healthcare situation: complain about Obamacare, but allow it to stand. But Trump doesn't understand (or doesn't care about) that dynamic. Or perhaps it is by design: he loves conflict and chaos!
In any event, this puts the future of the Dreamers into the hands of the Republicans. What will they do? I suspect that they know that Congress is going to look very different in a year and a half when the Democratic party retakes the House, and maybe Senate at this rate. Then Congress can create a real solution for those stuck in this limbo. So, I expect the current Republican-led Congress will allow the DACA idea to die. That will appeal to their base, and the Democratic party can provide the humanitarian solution that the rest of us really want.
David:
Your opinions do not reflect any facts on the ground. Sixty-six percent of Republican law-makers support DACA. When this comes up for a vote, Republicans will support creating a pathway for citizenship for dreamers. This is a win for Republicans. A majority of Americans support DACA, and Republicans will be the ones to put it into law, something Democrats promised during the Obama years, but failed to get done. ( I'm glad you have the optimism that your party will be in control, and get it done the next time around, something they failed to do when they had control of both houses and the executive branch.)
The only catch is whether Democrats will balk at attaching any sort of border security measures with DACA. The White House has said that Trump will not insist on any sort of wall, but increased border security is something that must be included in the deal. A majority of Americans support increased border security, and it was a major point Trump made on the campaign trail.
As this graph illustrates, Americans support making DACA law, and they also have soured on a physical border "wall". They support a compromise (65% to 27%) of both enacting DACA as a law and increasing border security, something the President and most Republicans support. This compromise is the way forward. Everyone wins, including dreamers.
At least you are willing to concede that the dreamers are stuck in limbo because of President Obama's executive order, and Congress needs to act. I consider that progress.
Doug:
The Dreamers were saved by Obama's administration, otherwise they would have already been subject to deportation. Those dreams were dashed by Trump's rescinding of DACA.
I hope you are right that Republicans will join the Democrats to help save the Dreamers. And the Dreamers' parents. And all immigrants. Unfortunately, you are also right that the Republicans will probably also attach something else to the bill that has nothing to do with the Dreamers' lives and will end up killing the bill. I know many Dreamers and it breaks my heart to see their lives being batted around as a political football.
There are many in the Republican party (e.g., Trump's base) that do not want anything like DACA to pass. We'll see if the Republicans can gather their support for a such a popular program. I'll be very surprised if they do get it passed. But hope springs eternal! It would be ironic if it falls back to Trump to make an executive action to again save the Dreamers.
David:
Two things before we wrap this up:
Dreamers are in this country illegally. It was not through any fault of their own, but they, and their parents broke immigration laws. There are laws for reasons, and there are penalties for breaking the law. What is currently going on is an effort to change the law to allow them a path towards citizenship. Only Congress can pass that law. Obama placed dreamers in a very precarious position with false promises. I consider the actions he took to create DACA (a program he repeatedly said he could not create legally) during an election season to be one of the most blatantly cynical and partisan things he did while in office. President Trump is leading an effort to make dreamer's status legal under the law. Trump won't enact any executive actions for the very reasons he had to start the process of undoing former President Obama's: It's not legal, and won't stand up in court.
Border security isn't something that has no relationship to dreamers or their status. Dreamers entered our borders illegally. Border security funnels immigrants towards the legal means of entering the country, and taking their first legal steps towards US citizenship. If Democrats don't see DACA as having anything to do with our borders, then they will cause these efforts to fail. Border security and immigration go hand in hand. Immigrants are welcomed. The first thing they need to do is recognize that the country they are entering is a nation of law. Addressing DACA is the first step to reforming the entire immigration process, which currently appears to be too complicated and expensive for many.
Doug:
Building a wall has nothing to do with the Dreamers. You imagine their parents sneaking in via a hole in a fence. But many Dreamers aren't even from Mexico, and many came here legally. Perhaps their parents overstayed their student or work visas. They may have taken a plane into the US legally. So, no, a wall on the southern border won't help solve any problem. And neither will "increased border security" if they come in legally. So that has little to do with Dreamers. Democrats are fine with increased security all around, such as limiting gun violence. It is a question of priorities.
This country sure has changed over the last 100 years. Most of the people in the US whose parents came to the US have no idea whether they are here legally:
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| Photo credit |
DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, is illegal.
This is not just my opinion, but is (or was) the opinion of a former US President and Constitutional law professor.
President Obama said that he, as the Executive of the country, could not just create DACA. It needed to be enacted as law by the Congress. He made this argument very clearly numerous times.
“I’m president, I’m not king,” Barack Obama, October 25, 2010
“I think it’s important to remind everybody that, what I’ve said previously, I am not a king, I am head of the executive branch of government,” Obama said in an interview with Univision. “I am required to follow the law, and that is what we’ve done.” Barack Obama, January 29, 2013
Yet, he then changed that position and created DACA through executive order when the Democrat-led Congress failed to act. Multiple states sued on various grounds, and many cases are still pending before the courts, but so far, the former President's original argument is winning the day. He didn't have the authority to create DACA. In it's current format, DACA isn't legal.
Which brings us to the present. DACA beneficiaries are in a state of limbo that President Obama created. President Trump put the ball squarely in Congress's court, which is where this belonged in the first place. Congress needs to take up the issue (which Democrats could have done when Obama was in office, and had a super-majority in the Senate). President Trump has done the right thing by pressuring Congress to act. President Trump's Executive Order and subsequent rules created a provision that no changes be made to the status of current dreamers for 6 months. If Congress does not act within that time frame, DACA may end. Perhaps that's what Congress needed all along, a deadline.
Doug:
Dealing with DACA is something that Republicans in Congress would rather avoid. They were very happy to have DACA for two reasons:
- it allowed them to complain about Obama enacting it (as shown by your response above) to appeal to their extreme base, and
- it provided a humanitarian solution, appealing to everyone else.
This is analogous to the healthcare situation: complain about Obamacare, but allow it to stand. But Trump doesn't understand (or doesn't care about) that dynamic. Or perhaps it is by design: he loves conflict and chaos!
In any event, this puts the future of the Dreamers into the hands of the Republicans. What will they do? I suspect that they know that Congress is going to look very different in a year and a half when the Democratic party retakes the House, and maybe Senate at this rate. Then Congress can create a real solution for those stuck in this limbo. So, I expect the current Republican-led Congress will allow the DACA idea to die. That will appeal to their base, and the Democratic party can provide the humanitarian solution that the rest of us really want.
David:
Your opinions do not reflect any facts on the ground. Sixty-six percent of Republican law-makers support DACA. When this comes up for a vote, Republicans will support creating a pathway for citizenship for dreamers. This is a win for Republicans. A majority of Americans support DACA, and Republicans will be the ones to put it into law, something Democrats promised during the Obama years, but failed to get done. ( I'm glad you have the optimism that your party will be in control, and get it done the next time around, something they failed to do when they had control of both houses and the executive branch.)
The only catch is whether Democrats will balk at attaching any sort of border security measures with DACA. The White House has said that Trump will not insist on any sort of wall, but increased border security is something that must be included in the deal. A majority of Americans support increased border security, and it was a major point Trump made on the campaign trail.
As this graph illustrates, Americans support making DACA law, and they also have soured on a physical border "wall". They support a compromise (65% to 27%) of both enacting DACA as a law and increasing border security, something the President and most Republicans support. This compromise is the way forward. Everyone wins, including dreamers.
At least you are willing to concede that the dreamers are stuck in limbo because of President Obama's executive order, and Congress needs to act. I consider that progress.
Doug:
The Dreamers were saved by Obama's administration, otherwise they would have already been subject to deportation. Those dreams were dashed by Trump's rescinding of DACA.
I hope you are right that Republicans will join the Democrats to help save the Dreamers. And the Dreamers' parents. And all immigrants. Unfortunately, you are also right that the Republicans will probably also attach something else to the bill that has nothing to do with the Dreamers' lives and will end up killing the bill. I know many Dreamers and it breaks my heart to see their lives being batted around as a political football.
There are many in the Republican party (e.g., Trump's base) that do not want anything like DACA to pass. We'll see if the Republicans can gather their support for a such a popular program. I'll be very surprised if they do get it passed. But hope springs eternal! It would be ironic if it falls back to Trump to make an executive action to again save the Dreamers.
David:
Two things before we wrap this up:
Dreamers are in this country illegally. It was not through any fault of their own, but they, and their parents broke immigration laws. There are laws for reasons, and there are penalties for breaking the law. What is currently going on is an effort to change the law to allow them a path towards citizenship. Only Congress can pass that law. Obama placed dreamers in a very precarious position with false promises. I consider the actions he took to create DACA (a program he repeatedly said he could not create legally) during an election season to be one of the most blatantly cynical and partisan things he did while in office. President Trump is leading an effort to make dreamer's status legal under the law. Trump won't enact any executive actions for the very reasons he had to start the process of undoing former President Obama's: It's not legal, and won't stand up in court.
Border security isn't something that has no relationship to dreamers or their status. Dreamers entered our borders illegally. Border security funnels immigrants towards the legal means of entering the country, and taking their first legal steps towards US citizenship. If Democrats don't see DACA as having anything to do with our borders, then they will cause these efforts to fail. Border security and immigration go hand in hand. Immigrants are welcomed. The first thing they need to do is recognize that the country they are entering is a nation of law. Addressing DACA is the first step to reforming the entire immigration process, which currently appears to be too complicated and expensive for many.
Doug:
Building a wall has nothing to do with the Dreamers. You imagine their parents sneaking in via a hole in a fence. But many Dreamers aren't even from Mexico, and many came here legally. Perhaps their parents overstayed their student or work visas. They may have taken a plane into the US legally. So, no, a wall on the southern border won't help solve any problem. And neither will "increased border security" if they come in legally. So that has little to do with Dreamers. Democrats are fine with increased security all around, such as limiting gun violence. It is a question of priorities.
This country sure has changed over the last 100 years. Most of the people in the US whose parents came to the US have no idea whether they are here legally:
"When people say their ancestors came legally, if they came before 1924, everybody was legal,” said Ngai. “It wasn’t a choice they had to make. After 1924, if you couldn’t get a visa because your country’s quota was filled, many came without documents. They sneaked in." - The InquirerIt is a world that is upside down where doing something to save the tax-paying Dreamers is seen as "cynical" and rescinding the attempt is seen as "leading an effort to" save them. In any event, I don't know why you insist on stating this mixed up position when it has little to do with what to actually do next. It is pretty simple: just turn Obama's policy into law. As your graph shows, most people want this. Except for the elected Republicans. We'll see what happens in Congress. And then we'll see what happens in the next election.
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