Posted on by Californiacontrarian

Bad Dreams

The 5th annual survey of D.A.C.A. recipients was just published in September, 2019. More than 1100 were surveyed by multiple agencies. The results were predictable with the vast majority wanting to stay in the U.S.A. More than 90% expressed concern with multiple things if they had to return to the country of their birth. They were mostly concerned about security for themselves and their families, but also were concerned about access to food and education. For these individuals getting sent back to a country in which they have no ties would be the culmination of a truly bad dream.

To bring everyone up to date, D.A.C.A. (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) is an American immigration policy that allows some individuals with unlawful presence in the United States after being brought to the country as children to receive a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation and become eligible for a work permit in the U.S.
This policy was “created” in 2012 by then President Obama. He spoke about the failure of Congress to pass the “Dream Act,” which would have provided a path to citizenship for certain immigrants brought to the country illegally as children. He said that in the absence of congressional action, the Department of Homeland Security would institute a temporary program to defer deportation for “eligible individuals who do not present a risk to national security or public safety.” The most important word here is “temporary,” and in fact he referred to it as a “temporary stopgap measure” . . . Plans to phase out DACA were announced by the Trump Administration on September 5, 2017; implementation was put on hold for six months to allow Congress time to pass the Dream Act or some other legislative protection for Dreamers. Congress failed to act and the time extension expired on March 5, 2018, but the phase-out of DACA has been put on hold by several courts. On August 31, 2018, District Court Judge Andrew Hanen ruled that DACA is likely unconstitutional. However, he let the program remain in place as litigation proceeds. The Supreme Court has granted certiorari to hear three cases related to the DACA, consolidated into one, in their term starting October 2019.


I think that it is reasonable to assume that many, if not most Americans feel sympathy towards the plight of these so-called “Dreamers.” However, the fact is that they are all illegal. Although I do not often agree with Barack Obama, his dictate concerning the Dreamers was a reasonable attempt at a compromise, but recall that even President Obama felt that it was “temporary,” and, oh yeah, a minor problem . . . only Congress can make laws, and only Congress can change our present immigration laws. President Trump, on the other hand, recognized not only the illegality of the Dreamers, but also the illegality of what President Obama had done back in 2012, and this has produced this present stalemate . . . a stalemate that will be hopefully be temporarily resolved by a definitive decision by the Supreme Court. But actually, nothing will be definitively resolved until Congress gets its act together on what to do with the Dreamers.

My solution should be acceptable to the American people as well as to the Washington politicians on both sides of the aisle. To me the stumbling block here is that the Dreamers should have a path to citizenship. Why should they have a path to citizenship? Remember, despite all of the sympathy that they engender, they are illegal. Get rid of this potential citizenship path as well as all of the benefits resulting from citizenship, including the right to ever vote, and from my perspective, a compassionate deal could easily be worked out. They would be placed in another category, a category of legal non-citizens, who can merely dream of citizenship, as it will never come to them.

Poetically, we can just continue to call them “Dreamers,” and their present bad dream would not have turned into a nightmare.

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