You Say That I’m a Dreamer: Will Trump Push Back Immigration?

If there’s one issue that excites Trump’s supporters, it’s immigration. America’s system is impossibly draconian and brutal, but for Trump’s supporters, it’s far too lenient. Here is where the divide between the business party GOP and Trump yawns the widest. Trump has been hinting that he’ll radically slash DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The program is widely regarded as a humane plank in long-term immigration reform.

As Post notes,

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and other Republican leaders in Congress on Friday urged President Trump not to terminate an Obama-era program that has allowed nearly 800,000 undocumented immigrants to live and work in the country without fear of deportation. Ryan said in a radio interview that it was up to Congress to determine the fate of the immigrants enrolled in Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which offers two-year work permits to those who have been in the country illegally since they were children, a group known as “dreamers.”

It’s the same old story with Trump’s Administration: Donald came in promising thunder, blood, and nationalism, and what he gives to his base is warmed-over Republicanism. That’s what gives DACA an even chance of staying. Reportedly, the President been waxing reflective. Obama instituted DACA by executive fiat. It has been a war-cry for the right since it was initiated in June 2012. Business digs it because immigration is in their interest; everyone else likes it because they find it humane. This is the land of immigrants, after all.

The Post again:

Trump is mulling DACA’s future ahead of a deadline set for Tuesday from Texas and nine other states to file a lawsuit against the program unless the president rescinds it. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Friday afternoon that a decision could come later in the day or over the weekend. “We love the dreamers,” Trump said. “We think the dreamers are terrific.” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders later told reporters that the president would reveal his decision Tuesday. “We want to make sure the decision is done correctly,” she said.

Trump has cut back on immigrant protections in many other ways. This would be the biggest blow yet to undocumented workers. Who knows what he will do? As is usually the case with Donald, the last person in the room with him will decide the issue.

If DACA is rolled back, over a thousand young people per day will lose work permits. Republican officials threaten to sue the government, if DACA isn’t repealed. September 5th is the deadline. And a country waits. CBS News reports that Trump will end the program. Other sources were cautiously optimistic that DACA might remain.

Per NBC News:
Technology companies expressed their support for the program. Brad Smith, president of Microsoft, said the U.S. cannot afford to lose “the tremendous talent of these individuals.” … Officials said some aides in the White House were worried about canceling the program as residents of Texas and Louisiana were struggling with unprecedented flooding caused by the hurricane. The National Immigration Law Center estimates that 144,000 DACA participants live in those two states. Advocates for immigration say 97 percent of DACA participants are working or in school.

There is one humane answer: allow the children to stay. More DACA is needed, not less. These young people are all but American. This is the land of dreams, and Dreamers. Let it remain so.