FOR MORE ON THE MIDTERMS TURN TO ATKINS
Issue back in focus as elections near
A court ruling directing the White House to fully reinstate DACA has thrust the issue back into the spotlight just ahead of the midterm elections. And for now, both sides are claiming political victory.
Friday’s ruling requires the Trump administration to restart the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program — which allows immigrants who were brought into the country illegally as children to apply for legal status to work, go to school or join the military — including accepting new applications.
Previous rulings have protected those who already enrolled in DACA, but Friday’s decision by Washington-based U.S. District Judge John D. Bates, a George W. Bush appointee, went further.
DACA has largely dropped from the headlines since the failed effort by Congress to pass a law protecting “Dreamers” brought here as children in exchange for funding for a southern border wall and other Republican-backed measures after the White House walked away from the deal.
But Republicans see the ruling — and the legal challenge that will ensue in its wake — as a political boon. It falls within their political playbook of pushing to end DACA, boost border security and take a hard line on immigration policy, and is key to their hopes to hold onto control of Congress after November’s elections.
The ruling reinstating DACA “might be a blessing in disguise,” said Republican strategist Ford O’Connell. “The best issue to turn out Republican voters is the issue of immigration, and especially the issue of illegal immigration.”
But Democrats say the tide has shifted in their favor. Since Trump signed an order ending DACA last year, polls have consistently shown strong bipartisan support for the policy. In fact, a strong majority of Americans favor going even further and giving a path to citizenship to Dreamers. A recent Gallup poll found 83 percent of Americans either favor or strongly favor such a path to citizenship, while 15 percent oppose or strongly oppose it.
And Democrats say, the strong public sentiment against the policy of separating parents from their children at the border — a policy Trump reversed amid fiery backlash — will only boost support for finding a solution to allow Dreamers to stay.
“It’s another wedge issue that the Republicans are going the use because they think it’s a winner,” said Democratic strategist Jim Manley.
“But I’m not so sure it’s the silver lining that some are suggesting.”