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In 2012, Barack Obama created a program known as DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.) DACA granted those known as DREAMers permits to stay and work in the United States
DREAMers are those who were brought to the United States illegally as children by their parents. As such, many have no recollection of their homeland since they grew up in the United States. Their friends, livelihoods, and memories they’ve made are all in this country. To them, America is their home.
President Trump decided to end the program in September on the basis that it had been created through an unconstitutional use of presidential power by his predecessor. Many conservatives have long been opposed to the DACA program because they believed that it created opportunities for illegal immigration. Because of this, DREAMers are now facing the threat of deportation to what is essentially a foreign country.
Despite overwhelming public support for DREAMers, Congress has been unsuccessful in passing legislation to continue the DACA program. This has left many DACA recipients in limbo, wondering whether they would be deported to a country that they have never known. Democrats want a bill that solely protects DREAMers. Republicans refuse to pass such a bill without stronger immigration policies and increased funding in return. This inability to compromise resulted in the three-day government shutdown back in January.
The deadline for Congress to pass a DACA deal was March 5, and with that date fast approaching, there was no deal in sight. Luckily, in a time of inaction from the government, the courts stepped in.
U.S. District Judge William Alsup in California ruled in January that Trump wrongly ended the DACA program. This is similar to a ruling that New York judge decided: that the Trump administration had wrongly ended DACA. The Trump administration decided to appeal directly to the Supreme Court about the California ruling in a strange move, skipping the normal order of appeals. The Supreme Court refused to hear the case this Monday, instead telling the Trump administration to go through the usual channel for appeals.
Because of these rulings, current DACA recipients can renew their permits, but people cannot apply for a new one. Congress now also has more time to pass a DACA deal, recently Senator Jeff Flake (R – Ariz.) and Heidi Heitkamp (D – N.D.) have introduced a bipartisan three-year DACA and border security deal. The senate’s past three attempts to pass a DACA deal, however, have failed with no guarantee this one will pass.
These children may have come into the country illegally, but they didn’t have a choice. These people are Americans in every way besides birth. They deserve to stay in a nation of immigrants, not in a nation of which they have no memory. While Congress is squabbling over its partisan issues, DREAMers are the ones left questioning their futures.
