As previously noted, the problem of illegal aliens brought to the U.S. as children has been a preoccupation of congress for some time and several bills have been introduced in the past couple of decades but none so far, has scaled through. They are:
– 2001 – Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minor – The DREAM Act (2001) – Orin Hatch (R) and Dick Durbin (D)
– 2007 – passed in the House, failed in Senate
– 2009-2010 – re-introduced but defeated
– 2011 – re-introduced by Sen. Harry Reid, also defeated
– 2012 – DACA program enacted by Executive Order of former President Obama
– 2013 – Passed as part of the “Gang of 8 Immigration bill” in the Senate; but died in the House
– 2014 – Former President Obama tried to expand DACA and added Deferred Action on Parents of Americans – DAPA. That also failed and was ruled unconstitutional by an appellate court.
– 2017- DREAM Act 2017 – Introduced by Lindsay Graham (R), Dick Durbin (D), and Chuck Schumer (D).
– 2017 – Solution for Undocumented Children through Careers, Employment, Education and Defending our Nation – The SUCCEED Act 2017 – Introduced by Orin Hatch (R), Thom Tillis (R) and James Lankford (R).
– 2017 – American Hope Act – Introduced by Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D – IL.)
– 2017-2018 – RAC Act – Recognizing America’s Children Act – Introduced by Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R – FL.)
– 2017-2018 – BRIDGE Act – Bar Removal of Individuals who Dream and Grow our Economy – Introduced by Rep. Coffman (R – CO.)
Former President Obama promulgated DACA by executive fiat; an action that was challenged up to the Supreme Court where it deadlocked 4-4. Many legal luminaries believe DACA stands no chance in a full SCOTUS.
President Trump upped the ante by his rescission of DACA and giving Congress six months to find a solution. Right now, negotiations are on-going on financing government and DACA has been put right in the center, unfortunately. The political fallout from the rescission has defied logic. Straight forward amnesty has become an article of faith for the Democrats for which they are willing to shut down the government! The summary of the positions are as follows:
The President is willing to legalize the status of DACA recipients provided there are safeguards for preventing the same problem in the future by:
– Securing the border through the building of wall / barrier where appropriate
– Controlling chain migration
– Abrogating the Visa lottery
This makes a lot of sense if the same problem is to be avoided in the future
The Democrats’ position is:
– That amnesty should be given with no strings attached
– That there is scarce funds and therefore funds cannot be made available for the wall
This position is so illogical and preposterous that it is unbelievable. It shows the Democrats want to grandstand only for political gain rather than objectively and responsibly solve a problem that impacts the nation’s security, economy and social well being.
a) Security
Illegal immigration impacts the security of citizens and legal immigrants. There are many citizens and legal immigrants who have been horribly victimized by illegals; and some have tragically lost loved ones. The specious and insensitive argument that is often advanced whenever the issue of crimes by illegals is raised is that “Illegals commit less crime than citizens”! This is specious at best, for one thing, any crime by an illegal alien is one too many; that is a crime that never should have occurred because the illegal alien should never have been in the country in the first place.
In opposition to a physical barrier, Democrats and some Republicans have extolled the virtues of Virtual wall of technology – cameras and sensors etc. This is another specious argument. What is the use of cameras recording border crossers who would be long gone before patrol officers get to the scene?
b) Economic
The Democrats’ concern for cost of physical barrier shows a disregard for the colossal cost of illegal immigration in law enforcement, education, welfare, medical care etc; all of which are estimated to cost $135 billion per year. This can build the wall several times over. A physical barrier will no doubt drastically slow down the flow of illegal aliens and free up funds for other programs that benefit citizens and legal immigrants who ultimately bear the financial burden of illegal immigration.
The economic argument often advanced to oppose efforts at controlling illegal immigration is that the illegals do “jobs that Americans won’t do”. This is the most un-American position of all because it reeks of snobbery and suggests that Americans are somehow superior to the rest of the world even though her Constitution proclaims the equality of all men! Again, this is a false narrative because, watching Mike Rowe’s “Dirty Jobs”, it is doubtful that there are jobs that Americans won’t do; it is more likely that there are “wages that Americans won’t take for certain jobs”.
c) Social
Recently it was revealed that illegal immigrants constitute between 20-30% of Federal inmates. It is also reported recently that up to 30,000 women and children are being trafficked across the southern border annually. This should be of concern to Democrats who want to claim they care about women and children. This modern day slave trade should be of concern to all decent human beings and should be stopped by every possible means. Sealing a porous border will go a long way in halting the trend.
An often forgotten consequence of amnesty for illegals is that once the illegals become legal residents and citizens, they most probably will also decline to do “jobs that Americans won’t do” after all they would have become bona fide American or legal residents. So, unless the border is sealed, the cycle will continue ad infinitum.
Considering all these issues, it is unwise of Democrats to gamble with the nation’s security to score political points. That the Democrats’ position is nothing more than politics at its worst is exposed by the fact that many of the Democrat bigwigs are on record opposing illegal immigration and even Birthright citizenship!
“Subsidizing illegal immigration is unsustainable, idiotic and dangerous” – these sentiments were not expressed by “xenophobic Trump” or a “Republican hater”; but by a “compassionate Democrat” in her saner days!
For samplers, check the links below:
1.) http://patrioticviralnews.com/articles/throwback-video-of-sen-diane-feinstein-condemning-illegal-immigration/
2.) https://youtu.be/75a9Wa6KL7k
A host of others have held the same opinion over the years.
So, what should be the rational consensus or compromise in the on-going negotiations?
The following facts must be remembered as the White House and the parties negotiate:
– The country does not owe the DACA recipients anything
– The parents are solely responsible for their predicament and any angst they feel now should be directed to them.
However, on purely gratuitous grounds, grace may be given by creating a path to legal residency, but no path to citizenship. Many have had or will have children who are already or will be American citizens courtesy of the American “Birthright citizenship”! That should be more than enough reward for those who broke the law
The parents who broke the law should never be given a path to citizenship either. They should be perpetually under renewable Conditional Legal Residency based on good behavior.
As earlier observed, they broke the law by overstaying or crossing into the country illegally; and managed to remain by gaming the system, most probably through other illegal means injurious to citizens and legal immigrants. Therefore they should be thoroughly screened before granting them Conditional Legal Residency. Giving illegals citizenship will be rewarding illegality and undermining the nation’s claim as one of laws and not of men. Besides, it will only set the stage for the same problem in the future as borne out by the current situation resulting from previous amnesties. It is insanity to continue to do the same thing and expect a different result.
Unfortunately, all the bills being considered currently in Congress have varying paths to legal residency and subsequently citizenship except the BRIDGE Act. Out of those that provided paths to citizenship, the SUCCEED Act is the toughest and may take up to fifteen years before recipients can become citizens. The DREAM Act 2017 is moderate while The American Hope Act, co-sponsored by 116 Democrats, is essentially an open border joke that doles out citizenship within 5 years!
On the other hand, for legal immigrants currently, it takes 5-7 years in the most straight forward case. No legal immigrant can come in with a child who is one day above 18 years so family separation is routine. If while waiting, the child turns 21 before a visa is available, he / she gets reclassified and the process can take seven to ten years. On and on it goes. If the child grows up and gets married, the process gets even more complicated with further re-classification that may take ten to twenty years for some countries. So it is a fallacy that under most of the bills being considered, illegals under consideration for legalization in any way go behind the line of legal immigrants. They’ve already cut way ahead by their continued presence and the hordes of “Birthright Citizen” children they bear.
The horse trading currently going on between the parties and the White House under the specter of government shutdown over amnesty for DACA recipients is very unfortunate. The Democrats, considering other issues that affect citizens crying for attention such as – (Opioid overdose problem, veteran suicides, infrastructure decay, homelessness etc.) – are not at all on any high moral grounds on the issue. They are merely using the “Dreamers” as political chips to gamble with the nation’s security and economy. The nation deserves better from their representatives.
If at all amnesty is given for whatever reason in the negotiations, the toughest of the bills, such as the SUCCEED Act should be adopted; anything less would be a disservice to the nation and its citizens.
THE WATCHMAN CLUB 