GOP showdown looms over the ‘Dreamers’

In the long and bitter fight over immigration reform, Americans have staked out a patch of common ground: They don’t believe young foreigners who grew up here should be kicked out, even if they came without permission.

This year alone: A Quinnipiac University poll found 73 percent of voters support legislation to allow the so-called “Dreamers” to remain in the U.S. legally. An NPR poll found 65 percent in favor. An ABC News/ Washington Post poll found 87 percent would let them stay “if they arrived here as a child, completed high school or military service and have not been convicted of a serious crime.”

That last question closely tracks the requirements of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA program, the status of which is currently uncertain. President Barack Obama created it by executive order in 2012; President Donald Trump attempted to kill it the same way in 2017. Federal courts will decide if it lives or dies.

Think about it. The American people are strongly in favor of granting legal status to these young immigrants. Why are we waiting for the judicial branch to rule on an executive branch action while the legislative branch sits on its hands?

We’re looking at you, Peter Roskam, Randy Hultgren, Adam Kinzinger, Darin LaHood, Rodney Davis, Mike Bost and John Shimkus.

It has been 17 years since the original DREAM Actit stands for Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minorswas introduced. It’s a bipartisan measure that has been reintroduced in each subsequent Congress. But despite broad public support, it hasn’t gone anywhere. Year after year, it’s been held hostage in a larger fight over how to reform the entire immigration system.

Nothing is getting done. Not even the easy fix for the “Dreamers.”

Finally, we’re seeing some leadership, though not from the top. Moderate Republicans in the House are collecting signatures to bypass the procedural roadblocks and bring four competing immigration measures to the floor later this month. They need three more members to reach the necessary 218. They are confident they can get them.

In Washington, House Speaker Paul Ryan and his lieutenants are holding closed-door meetings, trying to avoid an embarrassing overthrow. If they find it’s too late, they can blame themselves.

For too long, they’ve ducked their responsibility to broker a compromise. They’ve lost sight of what their constituents want and need.

If it takes an intraparty spectacle to break the logjam, then bring it.