Another Chance for the Dreamers
It’s been two months since President Trump gave Congress half a year to get him a bill to grant some legal status to the “Dreamers.” Time is getting tight.
At risk are several hundred thousand young people brought into the United States illegally as children, who’ve grown up here and are mostly strangers to the nations where they hold citizenship. Many came “into the light” to take President Barack Obama’s offer of legal status — without realizing that Obama himself had long argued, correctly, that no president has the legal power to make that offer.
With federal judges set to rule the Obama program unconstitutional, Trump announced he’d be rescinding it in six months and called on lawmakers to use that window to find a humane, legal solution.
From the start, the question has been whether Democrats would stand up and back a Republican-led compromise — and the question is still open, since members of the minority party have been slow to rally behind the Succeed Act, offered by several Senate Republicans, to give the Dreamers a legal way to work and go to school in America.
Well, Democrats now have another chance: Last week, 17 House Republicans held a press conference to demand Dreamer action by the end of the year. It was a broad coalition, with moderates like New York’s John Faso and Pete King, as well as more conservative members such as Joe Barton of Texas and Darrel Issa of California.
“No bill is going to be perfect, but inaction is just not acceptable,” said Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), the group’s leader.
“These young people are contributing in significant ways to our communities,” added Rep. Susan Brooks (R-Ind.). “They have pledged allegiance to our flag and they are a part of this country.”
It’s time for some House Democrats to step up and publicly promise to work with these Republicans. It’ll mean compromise, such as supporting more funds for border security and accepting that the legislation won’t grant full, immediate citizenship.
But a refusal to compromise is a declaration that you’re OK treating these young people as cannon fodder in the partisan war over immigration policy. Where’s the idealism in that?