Top Republicans will meet with Trump on Thursday to discuss a plan to fix the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Program. Meanwhile, the lives of 790,000 DACA recipients (dreamers) are threatened because of petty partisan politics according to the Pew Research Center.
Dreamers are the immigrants that America not only stands for, but needs.
Some of the requirements necessary to be eligible for DACA include: being currently in school, a high school graduate, GED recipient or an honorable discharge from the Coast Guard or armed forces, never been convicted of a felony, and being under 31 years of age of June 15, 2012. DACA recipients are also not considered a threat to national security.
The requirements to be eligible for this program are strict. The program itself is simply allowing these undocumented youth to get a renewable work permit that allows them to get better jobs and get a valid driver’s license. Dreamers still pay full price for everything else including healthcare and college tuition because they do not receive the benefits that citizens and permanent residents receive.
DACA is not a free for all program that any undocumented immigrant can use to their benefit. It was created for a specific group of people who did not come to this country of their own volition, but made the best of it in spite of their disadvantages.
Dreamers are good people. It’s easy for people to say that they’re an economic burden and to send them back to their countries but the reality is, America is their country. The United States is all they have ever known and they have worked hard to make a place here.
Dreamers have jobs, they are college students and college graduates, they pay taxes and they deserve a chance to continue living in this country. Moreover, this country relies on the economic and social benefits that dreamers contribute.
The removal of DACA would result in a $460.3 billion loss from the national GDP over the next decade according to the Center for American Progress.
Dreamers are not a burden, they are hard workers and right now they are fighting yet again for the right to live in their home.
Immigration was a major component in the 2016 election, with widespread controversy over President Trump’s remarks to build a wall. However, while the wall may seem more comical rather than serious, the anti-immigration sentiments in his policies pose a significant threat.
The Trump administration appears to be using the threat of permanently removing DACA as a bargaining chip for their anti-immigration. The proposed policies include limiting family-based green cards to minors and spouses in order to mitigate chain migration, hiring 1,000 more immigration enforcement workers, overhauling the asylum system and implementing new measures with “sanctuary cities.”
“Does anybody really want to throw out good, educated and accomplished young people who have jobs, some serving in the military? Really!.....,”President Trump tweeted on September 14, 2017.
The answer would be yes, apparently he does. The fact that he is willing to play with the protection of such a vulnerable group simply for his legal agenda further exposes his intolerance and ignorance.
These demands, regardless of which ones get included in the future proposals, if they do, just shows how obsessed President Trump is with his agenda. He spent the entire election insisting that he would build this wall and crack down on immigration and he is jeopardising the lives of almost 800,000 people to do so.
The Trump administration knows its immigration goals are outlandish but they still went after an extremely marginalized and vulnerable group that did not deserve to be caught in the crossfire of inefficient and unnecessary politics.
