Senators seek bipartisan fix to ‘Dreamers’ issue
WASHINGTON — Senators of both parties pledged Tuesday to work toward a solution for “Dreamers” after President Trump announced plans to end a program protecting the young immigrants brought illegally to this country as children.
As the Senate opened its first hearing on the issue since Trump’s announcement last month, an administration official asserted that Dreamers are good for the country. Michael Dougherty, an assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, said Trump would like Congress to find a solution allowing the young immigrants to remain legally in the United States.
“They are a benefit to this country,” Dougherty testified. “They are a valuable contribution to our society.”
“Under a rational bill these individuals would be allowed to become lawful permanent residents,” Dougherty said.
But highlighting the challenges ahead, the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing featured Republicans demanding increased border security as part of any deal, while Democrats focused on the plight of the nearly 800,000 Dreamers themselves. These immigrants received temporary work permits and deportation protections under an Obama administration program, but now face a frighteningly uncertain future.
When Trump announced last month he was ending the program called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, he gave Congress six months to come up with a solution. If there is no action by early March, the immigrants’ work permits will begin to expire and they will become subject to deportation, administration officials said as dozens of Dreamers wearing orange shirts watched from the audience. The Trump administration and congressional Republicans say DACA is unconstitutional and argue that then-President Barack Obama exceeded his authority in creating it.
“Creating a legislative fix is the right thing to do, but there’s a big caveat,” said Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, who was among a small group of GOP lawmakers focused on the issue who dined with Trump at the White House on Monday night.
“Before we provide legal status to these young people, we must reassure and actually regain the public confidence that we’re serious when it comes to enforcing the law and securing our border,” Cornyn said.
Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, whose home state of California is home to large numbers of Dreamers, countered that “these youths should not be political footballs.”
“These young people have put their trust in the federal government and they have done everything asked of them. They are counting on us to put aside partisanship and find a solution to this problem,” she said.
Congress’ top Democrats, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, announced an agreement with Trump a couple of weeks ago to enshrine the DACA protections in law, while separately addressing the issue of Trump’s promised border wall. But the terms of the deal quickly came into dispute with Republicans denying there was one at all.