The Dreamer Dream

It is now squarely up to Congress to assure that Dreamers have a path to stay and work in the United States.  If Congress does its job, some of those who were brought illegally to the US as children will have a much more secure future than they had under DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), President Obama’s executive order.

From a Dreamer’s PoV, there are three problems with DACA:

1. It provides amnesty and the right to work in the US only two years at a time; there is no path to citizenship or permanent residency.
2. It is (as we’ve now seen) subject to withdrawal by the same kind of executive action which created it.
3. The fact that it was promulgated as an executive order makes it vulnerable to the Supreme Court finding it unconstitutional. The Court split 4-4 (after the death of Justice Scalia) and allowed an injunction preventing a DACA expansion to stand.

If Congress were to pass a law which did simply what DACA did, issues 2 and 3 go away. I hope Congress can do better than that and provide a path all the way to citizenship for the Dreamers; but the perfect can’t be the enemy of the good. We actually have many more immigration issues to deal with than just the Dreamers; there are a large number of people who entered the country illegally as adults. We’re not going to just deport all of them either. But let’s take one bipartisan step at a time and make sure we do the right thing by the Dreamers.

According to WikiPedia:

To qualify for DACA, applicants must meet the following major requirements, although meeting them does not guarantee approval:^[55]

• Came to the United States before their 16th birthday

• Have lived continuously in the United States since June 15, 2007

• Were under age 31 on June 15, 2012 (i.e., born on June 16, 1981 or after)

• Were physically present in the United States on June 15, 2012, and at the time of making their request for consideration of deferred action with USCIS

• Had no lawful status on June 15, 2012

• Have completed high school or a GED, have been honorably discharged from the armed forces, or are enrolled in school

• Have not been convicted of a felony or serious misdemeanors, or three or more other misdemeanors, and do not otherwise pose a threat to national security or public safety

(Remember that children born to illegal immigrants IN the US are US citizens already. No one can take their rights away.)

There will be, and should be, debates in Congress over whether these requirements should be made looser or more stringent. A danger will be that the far left and the far right will dig in their heels on some specific issues in hopes of torpedoing a compromise. Trump has already signaled the right that he is willing to do without their votes by saying he will NOT insist that building The Wall be part of the deal. He will want to see some enhancements to border security to be sure that good treatment of the Dreamers doesn’t incent another wave of illegal immigration.

TBD whether the Democratic leadership can or will walk away from their left wing. A bill doesn’t need a majority of Democrats in either house to pass; but it will need a sizable contingent of Democrats to make up for right-wing Republican defections.

The Dreamer issue is now squarely before Congress, where even Obama agreed it should be. This is a time to write your Congressperson and tell her or him to do the job he or she was elected for. Doing that job means compromise.