The DACA program, which protected undocumented children that were brought into America before the age of 16, has been, of course, declared to be over by the Trump administration. Congress has all but vowed to save it in a almost unusual display of bipartisanship that we don't see much of these days. As with anything that has the words “illegal” and “immigrant,” many completely support the idea of literally deporting children from the only country they know – including Trump and A.G. Jeff Sessions, because of course they do. However, contrary to what the alt-right news sources are talking about when it comes to DACA, the people who are in the program are not living off the state, nor are they just here for a free ride – they're mostly on the path of citizenship, and those who aren't haven't been here long enough to be able to.
DACA, or the Dreamer program, was
established by Barack Obama so that in a court of law, a child who
really had no say in whether the family would enter the country
illegally wouldn't be able to be arrested or deported for
undocumented immigration. Strict requirements were put in place, such
as an annual fee of five hundred dollars, the recipient must be
working and paying taxes if of age, they must have absolutely clear
criminal records – basically, they have to be upstanding model
citizens. One may ask “well if they care so much to do all that to
stay here, why can't they just pay the money and fill out the form to
be a citizen?” In actuality, getting citizenship isn't as easy as
it sounds. To qualify, one must be eighteen years of age or older,
have lived here on a green card for at least five years, have not
left the country for more than thirty months over the last five
years, complete several interviews and tests – and that's just the
main requirements, not including the fees and costs for every step.
And that's where the DACA comes into play – children who immigrated
here illegally are not considered 100% “illegal,” as they had no
say in the ordeal. So using a program that essentially documents them
as all but official green card holders, people are able to get
documentation that can be used to apply for a green card, and thus
citizenship.
Donald Trump said not that long ago
that he “love[s] the Dreamers,” then he goes and cuts the program
simply because of his hatred for Obama and racism. In the
announcement, Jeff Sessions went on and said that the Dreamers were
“taking jobs” from real Americans and, while never actually
saying he and Trump consider them enemies of the state, it was
heavily implied. Consider that Trump says he is the “law and order
President” and told the NYPD to be more “rough” on their
patrols, it really won't surprise me if we start to see ICE bursting
into schools to arrest children because their parents illegally
entered America. That is unlikely, but really, don't be shocked. It
is not below these people to order armed arrests of children who, as
I keep repeating, had no real idea what their families were doing was
illegal. Trump and Sessions cannot claim this isn't because of
racism, due to the ways in which Sessions spoke about these people.
And as with most of the administration's removals and cuts to
programs, this was done because Obama did it and Trump hates Obama
just because he is black, successful, and more liked than Trump has
been or ever will be. The Trump's-a-racist card isn't as farfetched
as it seems, due to several court cases in which Trump or his
companies have been sued for not renting property to nonwhite people,
and the “Obama birther conspiracy” that was promoted by Trump
himself. Once again, we have an administration running on hatred and
white nationalism, not doing their job and actually thinking like
rational people.
What we need is an easier pathway to
citizenship. The Dreamer program should stay, but it should also
include an internal system to allow these recipients to be able to
get their citizenship as quickly as possible – as well as fixing
the current system to allow the parents to get theirs too. The tests
are designed to prove the potential citizens have the same basic
knowledge as most of America does and in reality, they know a lot
more. Maybe that should be a requirement to get a state ID of any
form – take the citizenship test and pass. How can people come into
the country and get citizenship if they don't work to have the money
and life they desire? How can people be opposed to innocent,
unknowing children being protected from being prosecuted? Racism is
part of it, but ignorance of what it takes to be a naturalized
American citizen is just as much of a problem.
The removal of the Dreamer program
proves the racism and white nationalist views of the White House,
especially with having Jeff Sessions, who was barred from being a
federal judge due to his racist views on non-whites during the 1980s,
making the announcement. Meanwhile, Trump says it's up to Congress on
whether the program stays, as if to make it sound like he's trying to
make Congress do their job – which if that were the case, he would
have come right out and said it, not send one of his yes men to call
taxpayers and even veterans “criminals” because of something they
had no control over. If DACA is removed, then expect to explain to
your kids why their friend was hauled out of school by men with guns
and why children are dying in nations they never knew because their
family had to escape the horrors. You cannot, and should not, blame
children for what their parents did, especially young children who
were brought across the border to have a better life. This isn't a
matter of illegal and legal, nor is it a political thing where “oh
well a Republican said the program is wrong so it's wrong, just let
the kids die, let the kids see their friends being threatened with
death, and let five-year-olds be treated as criminals because they
don't know they aren't a citizen of a nation founded by men who
illegally took the land.” That is not America. That's the first
step to another Holocaust, and honestly, with a man who refused to
call out neo-Nazis using his name and supporting him in the highest
office in the land, true patriots may be being arrested for hiding
enemies of the state.