Enough! DACA and DREAMers have been at the mercy of the courts too long. Step up, Congress
In the cruel game that the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals program — DACA — has become, its recipients have had some walks, base hits and home runs. But they now are at grave risk of being struck out. And that would be a terrible outcome.
The conservative Fifth District Court of Appeals in New Orleans heard arguments last week seeking both to save DACA and to kill it. The program, created by President Obama in 2012, protects from deportation some young people who, as children, were brought to the United States illegally by their parents or other adults. DACA, rightly, also grants them work permits when they’re of age.
The rationale: As young children and teens, they had no choice but to accompany their families. Why punish them by forcing them to leave the country where they have spent most of their lives?
It’s a sound argument that might end up on the losing side. It shouldn’t.
To receive protection under DACA — which recipients must renew every two years — immigrants had to meet three narrow requirements: They had to be under 31 years old on June 15, 2012, the date Obama announced his executive order. They also had to be younger than 16 when came to the United States and have lived here since 2007.
Advocates say that there are about 650,000 DACA recipients in the country. Government data says that another 92,000 are seeking to apply for the first time — but can’t, because new applications are frozen.
DON’T END IT
The Herald Editorial Board has always supported DACA, citing the cruelty of deporting this particular class of undocumented immigrants, possibly separating families from children who subsequently were born in the United States and therefore, are U.S. citizens. Myriad studies have detailed how DACA recipients — socalled DREAMers — have enhanced communities across the country, through working, often in essential, front-line jobs; signing up for military service; paying taxes. According to the Florida Policy Institute, in 2018, DREAMers contributed almost $78 billion in taxes in this state alone. Besides the inhumane aspect of ending DACA, is this another loss the state — and nation — wants to sustain? considered a near-failing score, certainly not even close to an A, and certainly not worthy of celebration.
– Richard Freedland,
Palmetto Bay
ENGLISH COURAGE
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s resignation proves that character matters when it comes to leadership. After members of Parliament, especially those of Johnson’s own Conservative Party, lost confidence in their scandal-burdened leader, his downfall seemed inevitable.
The absence of courage among Republicans in our country stands in stark contrast to the political courage shown by members of the United Kingdom’s Conservative Party.
Republicans’ continued support of Donald Trump seems foolish, considering he was ousted by the American electorate for many of the same reasons. – Jim Paladino,
Tampa
Opinion content from syndicated sources may be trimmed from the original length to fit available space.
MISSING CRISIS
In Herald reporter Michael Butler’s July 8 story, “South Florida housing expert offers big fix for crisis in home affordability,” the expert’s solution puzzled me.
Not once did Ned Murray mention the emergency workforce-housing dilemma.
I served on Miami-Dade County’s Affordable Housing Board from 20192021. Many infill lots were available then, and the mentioned tilt-up construction of fourplex homes would easily meet immediate needs. Subsequently, a Herald story discussed a former local politician who was somehow involved with lot sales.
Murray’s concern is admirable, but it seems that only affordable housing is being discussed. Workforce housing, which is in crisis, was omitted. Politics and agendas must be removed from this issue. Many banks and credit unions offer Community
BOB MCFARLIN
We’ve also clamored for Congress to step in and protect this one small cohort of undocumented immigrants, especially in the face of lawmakers’ failure to confront broader immigration reform. Last year, a new Biden administration buoyed hopes.
“There have been efforts for a long time to move forward in various iterations and to adopt legislation that would put DACA on a stronger footing,” Andrew Pincus, a Washington-based attorney who represents businesses that support DACA, told the Editorial Board. “Last year, the American Dream and Promise Act passed the House, but it has not moved in the Senate.”
The Promise Act provides “conditional permanent resident status for 10 years to a qualifying alien who entered the United States as a minor and (1) is deportable or inadmissible, (2) has deferred enforced departure status or temporary protected status (TPS), or (3) is the child of certain classes of nonimmigrants.” There are additional requirements to qualify.
DACA has had a tortured history in both the courts and at the executive level. Brace yourselves and try not to get whiplash:
In 2014, several states sued when Obama sought to expand
DACA, and in 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court, deadlocked — Justice Antonin Scalia had died earlier that year. In 2017, the Trump administration said it would phase out DACA, giving Congress six months first to come up with its own alternative. Congress, of course, did nothing.
SEVERAL LAWSUITS
By that time, in 2018, however, several district courts already had issued injunctions to phasing out the program; that same year, district court Judge Andrew Hanen, of the Southern District of Texas, found DACA likely to be unconstitutional, but he let the program continue, as litigation still lingered in the courts.
In 2020, the Supreme Court upheld injunctions on phasing out the program, terming it arbitrary and capricious. Interestingly, the court gave the
Reinvestment Act grants and help build homes.
Maybe Habitat for Humanity should be in charge? It gets the job done.
– Jim Angleton,
Miami
DEMS MAKE A MESS
The Democratic Party is now saying it’s disappointed with the country’s direction under the leadership of Pres Biden. Where have they been this past year and a half?
Democrats have control of Congress and the White House. Their prime focus has been on vilifying Donald Trump and reversing what he accomplished. As a result, gas prices nearly tripled, inflation is at historic highs and the Southern border is open illegal immigrants.
Crime is rampant in our big cities. The disastrous retreat from Afghanistan embarrassed us in front of the world and emboldened our enemies. All they can think about is their is
MONICA R. RICHARDSON
their ludicrous Jan. 6 hearings.
Democrats in Congress are paid well and get many benefits. Their job is to make sure our country is well run, not just to blame everything on someone else.
Democrats are incapable of of managing our great country.
They need to step aside until they regain their senses and let the Republican Party put our great, wonderful country back on the right track.
– Ira Jacobson,
Coral Gables
COMING HOME?
Britain’s Conservative Party seemingly has higher standards, holding their leaders more accountable than our own conservative Republicans do theirs, In this country, Republicans looked the other way during two impeachments and a planned insurrection, with many still claiming their guy is the legitimate president.
The Great American
DANA BANKER
federal government the goahead to find a better argument for ending the program.
Joe Biden, on his very first day as president, Jan. 20, 2021, reinstated the program. But in July of that year, Hanen, from Texas, determined that DACA violated the law, blocking the government from accepting new applications, while still letting current recipients keep their protections and apply for renewal.
Which brings us to the impending decision by the Fifth District Court of Appeals.
While DACA opponents argue that there is no statutory basis for the program, attorney Pincus classifies DACA as a long-recognized concept called “deferral of removal.”
“There has to be prioritization,” Pincus told the Board. “The government has said, ‘We’re going to not focus on removal with respect to you. We will focus, for instance, on criminals’ ” for deportation.
Victims of torture, for instance, have also been granted such deferral.
“If you grant deferral of removal, people are eligible for work permits,” Pincus says. “It’s a very rational structure. The alternative is the underground economy.”
No matter which way the
Fifth District rules, DACA’s constitutionaIity likely is headed to the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, people who have been good for this country will face more uncertainty, if not outright expulsion. That would be wrong.
The Senate can make this right, by supporting the American Dream and Promise Act.
‘‘ AT THIS POINT, IF I GET PICKED UP BY ALIENS, I’M JUST GONNA GO AHEAD AND CONSIDER IT A RESCUE MISSION INSTEAD OF AN ABDUCTION.
Experiment obviously has gone terribly off the rails. Is it too late to ask England to please take us back?
– John M. Cochrane,
Miami
COWARDLY COWERING
If ever there was a prime example of a picture being worth a thousand words, Kevin Siers’ cartoon of the regal British Lion in juxtaposition to the cowardly GOP “Wizard of Oz” lion is it.
– Christopher Cooke-Yarborough,
South Miami
PRO-LIFE HYPOCRISY
Opponents of Planned Parenthood make no sense when they oppose abortions.
They probably blame Planned Parenthood for the death of unborn infants.
If opponents of Planned Parenthood were consistent, they would oppose the death penalty also.
– Sue Browning,
Miami