If Donald Trump's presidential campaign had one basic platform, it was the anti-immigrant stance he took as he rode down that gilded escalator into the glitz-on-steroids lobby of Trump Tower. And now that problem has come home to haunt the now President Trump, because of his own campaign promise to end DACA, Obama's program to defer deportation for young people who were brought here as children.
To clarify, the self-named "Dreamers" are young people, mostly young adults now, who came here as young children or babies with their parents who arrived in this country without authorization. Their parents, if still here, are considered to be here illegally. Their younger siblings, who were born in the U.S., are citizens, with every right to stay.
But these Dreamers had no choice and no responsibility for the decision of their parents; they are considered here illegally, but personally innocent. In addition, they have grown up knowing no other home but the U.S. They have gone to school, gotten jobs, served in our military. This is the only life they know. To them, they are Americans. For some, English is the only language they know. Deportation would not mean being sent "back home," but to a foreign country whose language they may not speak.
With Congress unable to pass immigration reform, President Obama responded to this dilemma with compassion -- creating, by executive order, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. Under the DACA program, deportation decisions would be deferred indefinitely for these "innocents," at least as a stopgap measure until comprehensive immigration reform could fix the problem. In addition they would be allowed to get work permits, develop productive careers, and ultimately have pathway to citizenship.
Like so many things he didn't understand, Donald Trump campaigned hard against this plan; to him, it was part of the "immigrant problem," and he railed against the DACA program, calling it "amnesty for illegals."
That was his position, until he met in the Oval Office with a group of these young people, heard their stories, and finally understood the humanitarian issue. His feelings began to change; the Dreamers became "terrific," and Trump wanted to find a solution. On the other hand, he had Attorney General Jeff Sessions and advisers Stephen Bannon and Stephen Miller, telling him that the program is unconstitutional, reminding him of his campaign promise.
In addition, Trump was under pressure, if he wanted to keep DACA, because six states, including Texas (pre-Houston) were about to enter a law-suit challenging the legality of DACA as an unconstitutional abuse of presidential power.
Trump has said that this was the most difficult decision he has had to make -- but he promised to announce s decision this week. Most Democrats support the reprieve as part of the anticipated immigration reform; and even some Republicans have joined in, arguing for time for them to "fix" the problem.
President Trump ducked the responsibility of announcing it himself. Yesterday, he passed it off to Attorney General Sessions, who held a news conference, read the statement, and took no questions.
The essence of the decision, as I understand it at this point, is that DACA will be phased out, giving Congress six months to come up with legislation that will find a way to do legally what DACA has been doing in the gray area. Ideally, it would be part of a comprehensive reform of immigration law; but that's not going to happen in today's political climate. Let's just hope that this divided Congress can craft a simple plan that will get bipartisan support to keep DACA.
Some 800,000 young immigrants have been involved in the deferment plan. Each person had to meet eligibility requirements, such as age of arrival in the U.S., plus education or military service requirements and be free of any criminal record or threat to national security. If approved, they were granted a two year deferment from deportation, a work permit, and the possibility of applying for a renewal for another two years.
The phase-out plan is specific: Anyone eligible for DACA, who has not already applied, can no longer apply. Any pending applications will continue to be processed and granted as before. Those already enrolled in a two-year term that ends before March 5, 2018 may apply for one more two-year term. Those whose current terms end on or after March 6, 2018 may not apply for another term. If Congress does not fix it, that's how the whole program will eventually be phased out -- within two years of the March 6, 2018 end, all deferments would have expired and not renewed.
Perhaps AG Sessions did regard the announcement as an opportunity for him, because, as a group of Vox.com reporters have shown, he made a vigorous case for ending the program -- and, in doing so, told at least four big lies about the program. There seemed no doubt that he was relishing the opportunity to stand up and denounce the dastardly thing, something he's been wanting to do for a long time.
Perhaps President Trump was not just a coward, as some have suggested, but instead had a little bit of heart after all. If he had also had the political capital, he might have also pushed for a comprehensive immigration reform; but he has no political capital. So what he has done, apparently, is to just hand it over to Congress, saying: "Here, you fix it." And then he let Sessions trash talk it. OK, that's pretty weak . . . if he really did have a change of heart about the DACA young people.
But that's the problem with Trump. You can't believe anything that he says . . . ever, no matter whether it's good or bad. The determining factor for Trump, at any time, is what will make him look good . . . or make him win.
Ralph
PS: President Obama had said that he would make an exception to his plan not to comment on decisions by his successor, and that he would speak out if DACA were cancelled. And he has done just that. Without mentioning Trump by name, Obama called the decision to phase out DACA "cruel" and "contrary to our spirit, and to common sense." Calling it a "political decision and a moral question -- and one of basic decency," he also called it "self-defeating, because they want to . . . contribute to the country we love."
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