They came as kids. Let them pursue the American Dream
José Manuel Santoyo, 24, knows little about the country he would be sent to if the Trump administration begins deporting folks like him. “I wouldn’t even know how to get around Mexico right now,” the recent graduate of Southern Methodist University told the Texas Tribune. “I have no sense of how things work there.”
Santoyo’s story is pretty common among the 800,000 “dreamers,” immigrants who have come of age and set down roots in this country after being brought here unlawfully as children. President Obama enacted a policy — deferred action for childhood arrivals, known by the acronym DACA — of giving them relief from deportation and encouraging them to come forward to integrate more fully in American society.
But now President Trump is considering an end to DACA and could announce a decision as early as today. Trump is under pressure from hard-liners to terminate the program permanently; 10 state attorneys general have threatened to sue the administration if it does not end DACA by Tuesday.
The president is also under pressure from establishment Republicans to repeal the Obama policy but offer to enact similar relief through legislation if he can get something in return.
Another possibility is that the president will rescind DACA but let the dreamers stay until their work permits expire.
The right approach is to just leave the program alone, acknowledging that it works and that 800,000 people should not be cast into exile or used as pawns in a political chess match.
Dreamers, more than any other immigrant group, are well integrated into American society. They learned English as children and were educated in U.S. schools. Many have become small business owners or have highly coveted job skills. Deporting them would be quite disruptive to communities around the country while hurting the U.S. economy.
Unlike other undocumented immigrants, dreamers did not make an affirmative decision to break the law. They merely followed the instructions of parents in coming here.
Americans intrinsically know this.
A poll by Morning Consult in April found that only 14% of registered voters favored deporting dreamers; 78% said they should be allowed to stay, with most saying they should also be given a path to citizenship.
Many Republicans also know that deporting dreamers would be a disaster. But they cynically argue that the matter should be dealt with through legislation. That way, they would have a bargaining chip to pressure Democrats to support something else, perhaps funding for a border wall.
In a perfect world, Congress would have passed a law granting dreamers relief from deportation long ago. In fact, lawmakers would have done this as part of a comprehensive overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws.
But using 800,000 members of American society as political pawns is not the answer.
The best answer is simply to let the dreamers be.