Posted on by Californiacontrarian

Dulce and The Goldbergs

For years one of my favorite TV shows has been “The Goldbergs”, (although this year not so much). It takes place in ‘nineteen-eighty-something’ and is about a family with three kids that lives in the Philadelphia area. It is well written and each of the family members is well cast. The oldest son, Barry, is a member of an innocent group that call themselves, “JTP.” There are three members of the JTP, and at one point there is a fourth high school boy that wishes to join the JTP. Does he get into the JTP? I won’t spoil it for you, but one thing for sure is that the boy that wishes to get accepted into this club does not go around badmouthing Barry who was the defacto president of the JTP. Badmouthing Barry would have been counterproductive. To me this seems to be common-sense. Perhaps more people used common sense back in the eighties.

I was reminded of The Goldbergs, Barry, and the JTP as I was reading an article in this morning’s newspaper about a group of D.A.C.A. recipients who were demonstrating down by the US-Mexico border. Dulce Garcia, a D.A.C.A. recipient and immigration attorney was quoted as saying, “He’s bargaining for our lives, our livelihoods in exchange for our parents. That’s un-American. Our president is un-American.”

Wow! Besides the fact that because she is not a citizen, Donald Trump is not “her president,” I thought that that type of rhetoric could only be counterproductive. Certainly, someone trying to get into the JTP would not be dumb enough to badmouth Barry Goldberg. What law school did you go to, Dulce?

First, let’s clear up a few things about D.A.C.A.. The following should help, from Wikipedia: To be eligible, illegal immigrants must have entered the United States before their 16th birthday and prior to June 2007, be currently in school, a high school graduate or be honorably discharged from the military, be under the age of 31 as of June 15, 2012, and not have been convicted of a felony, significant misdemeanor or three other misdemeanors, or otherwise pose a threat to national security. The program does not provide lawful status or a path to citizenship, nor does it provide eligibility for federal welfare or student aid.

Where do these D.A.C.A. recipients come from? Again from Wikipedia: 74% of the eligible population was born in Mexico or Central America. Smaller proportions came from Caribbean and South America (11%), Asia (9%), and the rest of the world (6%).

Where do these D.A.C.A. recipients presently reside?
California – 424,995
Texas – 234,350
New York – 95,663
Illinois – 79,415
Florida – 74,321
Arizona – 51,503

How many potential D.A.C.A.recipients are there?
Somewhere between 650,000 and 1.8 million.

While I do feel sympathy for these individuals who are here through no fault of their own, I do not feel sympathy for their parents who gambled and entered the country illegally. Perhaps Dulce should place some of the blame for her conundrum on her parents. Perhaps Dulce should place some of the blame for this dilemma on President Obama who set up D.A.C.A. by executive decree, and thus created this mess.

To be clear, President Trump is trying to solve this problem. Yes, for sure he is a deal-maker, and he is trying to make a deal by parlaying the building a wall for a path to citizenship for 1.8 million potential D.A.C.A. recipients. However, keep in mind that the promise of building a wall is one of the things that got him elected . . . elected by actual citizens of the U.S.
My advice to Dulce Garcia:
”Close your mouth, keep your opinions to yourself, and watch more reruns of “The Goldbergs!”

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