Help for DACA "Dreamers" ~ its about doing what's right
Another gem editorial published in The Virginian Pilot ~ high energy editorials~!!!
An opinion echo with a four star rating!
THE TIMING of Donald Trump’s heartless tweet that “DACA is dead” could hardly have been worse, coming not quite an hour after he had tweeted “Happy Easter!” that Sunday morning.
But, considerations of the meaning of the season of Easter for Christians and Passover for Jews aside (also, Eastern Rite Easter on the Julian calendar), the tweet and the flurry of others that accompanied it would have been ill advised even if he’d waited to send them.
For one thing, as has been proven repeatedly, impromptu tweets are hardly the best way for the president of the United States to issue policy statements or negotiate politically. Trump is the country’s leader now, not a reality TV personality.
An opinion echo with a four star rating!
But, considerations of the meaning of the season of Easter for Christians and Passover for Jews aside (also, Eastern Rite Easter on the Julian calendar), the tweet and the flurry of others that accompanied it would have been ill advised even if he’d waited to send them.
For one thing, as has been proven repeatedly, impromptu tweets are hardly the best way for the president of the United States to issue policy statements or negotiate politically. Trump is the country’s leader now, not a reality TV personality.
 |
Dear Donald Trump, It's time ~ past time ~ for new leadership aka "You're FIRED!" |
What the country needs — what it has needed for months — is serious, consistent leadership on important questions about the future of thousands of “Dreamers” — young Americans who are law-abiding, productive members of society, yet who live under the threat of deportation because they are here illegally, through no fault of their own.
When Trump announced last September that he (cruelly) planned to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, he couched his move in terms of giving Congress six months to come up with a legislative solution for dealing with the Dreamers.
On one level, Trump’s action made sense. The DACA program shielding law-abiding Dreamers from deportation was created by an executive order of President Barack Obama.
When Trump announced last September that he (cruelly) planned to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, he couched his move in terms of giving Congress six months to come up with a legislative solution for dealing with the Dreamers.
On one level, Trump’s action made sense. The DACA program shielding law-abiding Dreamers from deportation was created by an executive order of President Barack Obama.
Obama thought this group deserved protection, but he was unable to get a Republican-controlled Congress to provide it.
As Trump’s decision to end DACA demonstrates, an executive order is a risky way to establish an important policy because another executive order could easily reverse it.
Legislative action would have been preferable. But DACA was already in place, and thousands of Dreamers were participating in good faith. And, because DACA was limited and specific — applying only to people who arrived in the United States by 2007 and before they turned 16, and who were under the age of 31 when DACA took effect in 2012 — there was little reason to change it.
An even bigger problem with Trump’s cancelling DACA in favor of congressional action is that Congress is still sharply divided. It’s difficult to get anything — even protection for the Dreamers, which polls show has widespread support — passed. Sympathy is strong for these people, who were brought here by their parents and have grown up as Americans. They haven’t been in trouble, or they wouldn’t have qualified for DACA.
A law to replace DACA might have made it through Congress if Trump had provided strong leadership or even a consistent, reasonable stance that would have let leaders of both parties know what they were dealing with. Instead, he gave them tweets, attempts to tie the fate of the Dreamers to a border wall or other drastic changes in the immigration system, and positions that changed from day to day. So nothing was done before DACA expired last month, and Congress is now focused more on the November election. The Dreamers are in limbo, fearing deportation as arguments continue in federal courts over the cancellation of the program.
The futures of 700,000 or more law-abiding U.S. residents — about 12,000 who live in Virginia – are at stake.
As Trump’s decision to end DACA demonstrates, an executive order is a risky way to establish an important policy because another executive order could easily reverse it.
Legislative action would have been preferable. But DACA was already in place, and thousands of Dreamers were participating in good faith. And, because DACA was limited and specific — applying only to people who arrived in the United States by 2007 and before they turned 16, and who were under the age of 31 when DACA took effect in 2012 — there was little reason to change it.
An even bigger problem with Trump’s cancelling DACA in favor of congressional action is that Congress is still sharply divided. It’s difficult to get anything — even protection for the Dreamers, which polls show has widespread support — passed. Sympathy is strong for these people, who were brought here by their parents and have grown up as Americans. They haven’t been in trouble, or they wouldn’t have qualified for DACA.
A law to replace DACA might have made it through Congress if Trump had provided strong leadership or even a consistent, reasonable stance that would have let leaders of both parties know what they were dealing with. Instead, he gave them tweets, attempts to tie the fate of the Dreamers to a border wall or other drastic changes in the immigration system, and positions that changed from day to day. So nothing was done before DACA expired last month, and Congress is now focused more on the November election. The Dreamers are in limbo, fearing deportation as arguments continue in federal courts over the cancellation of the program.
The futures of 700,000 or more law-abiding U.S. residents — about 12,000 who live in Virginia – are at stake.
Maybe something yet could be done, if Trump would step up, speak out about how wrong it would be to deport them and urge congressional leaders to do the right thing.
Instead, Trump gave us a flurry of (horrible!) Easter Sunday (and Easter Season) tweets. He blamed Democrats for not fixing a problem he created. Referencing a Fox News report about a “caravan” of people marching from Central America toward the U.S. border, he suggested that immigrants are trying to come to the United States to take advantage of DACA — even though DACA would not apply to them. He ranted about building a wall. He declared the death of DACA.
It’s time — past time — for real leadership. (?Fire Donald Trump!)
Instead, Trump gave us a flurry of (horrible!) Easter Sunday (and Easter Season) tweets. He blamed Democrats for not fixing a problem he created. Referencing a Fox News report about a “caravan” of people marching from Central America toward the U.S. border, he suggested that immigrants are trying to come to the United States to take advantage of DACA — even though DACA would not apply to them. He ranted about building a wall. He declared the death of DACA.
It’s time — past time — for real leadership. (?Fire Donald Trump!)
Labels: Christians, Jews, Passover, The Apprentice, The Virginian Pilot, Virginia Easter
posted by Juliana L'Heureux | 5:01 AM
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