“… for me to – simply through Executive Order – ignore those Congressional mandates would not conform with my appropriate role as President.”
And yet, President Obama proceeded with his un-constitutional DACA directive anyway.
President Trump has recently rescinded that un-constitutional executive branch directive and in doing so gave the rightful authority back to congress in order to deal with this very difficult issue within the next six months. It is my fervent hope that congress will stop kicking the can down the road and get a fair law passed within this time frame. This should be something that both Democrats and Republicans discuss and come together on to find a solution for the good and safety of America, instead of continuing the partisan politics that have so ensnared this process in recent decades.
Now I certainly don’t blame the children of illegal immigrants that were brought to America and know no other country. Indeed it would be exceptionally cruel to deport them back to their countries of origin at this point. That said, it certainly is not fair that their parents, even with altruistic intentions, violated federal immigration laws and brought them here illegally. There must be consequences for this if we are to remain a nation of laws.
I would make these suggestions to congress as they work to draft a new immigration law: first, the children affected by the rescinding of the DACA order should be allowed to stay in the United States and be granted legal status accordingly, perhaps with even a long term path towards citizenship. However, it is my opinion that all of the parents of these children that violated the law, while they should also be allowed to stay here if their children are minors, should be limited severely in the federal entitlement programs to which they can apply and also they should not ever be granted full voting citizenship rights. I hope that congress will draft just such a law accordingly. I won’t hold my breath.
If there are no consequences for having broken our immigration laws, what is to prevent this from reoccurring? After all, President Reagan signed a law providing amnesty to illegal aliens back in 1986 with the understanding that congress would provide for better immigration and border protections. Obviously those things never materialized, and we are dealing with even greater numbers of people coming to America illegally today.
President Trump laid out the case very well when he rescinded DACA the other week:
"In June of 2012, President Obama bypassed Congress to give work permits, social security numbers, and federal benefits to approximately 800,000 illegal immigrants currently between the ages of 15 and 36. The typical recipients of this executive amnesty, known as DACA, are in their twenties. Legislation offering these same benefits had been introduced in Congress on numerous occasions and rejected each time. . .
The temporary implementation of DACA by the Obama Administration, after Congress repeatedly rejected this amnesty-first approach, also helped spur a humanitarian crisis – the massive surge of unaccompanied minors from Central America including, in some cases, young people who would become members of violent gangs throughout our country, such as MS-13. . .
The decades-long failure of Washington, D.C. to enforce federal immigration law has had both predictable and tragic consequences: lower wages and higher unemployment for American workers, substantial burdens on local schools and hospitals, the illicit entry of dangerous drugs and criminal cartels, and many billions of dollars a year in costs paid for by U.S. taxpayers. Yet few in Washington expressed any compassion for the millions of Americans victimized by this unfair system. Before we ask what is fair to illegal immigrants, we must also ask what is fair to American families, students, taxpayers, and jobseekers."
Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan enthusiastically responded to President Trump’s righting of the balance of powers in this matter immediately after the announcement:
"President Obama’s DACA program was a clear abuse of executive authority, an attempt to create law out of thin air. Congress writes laws, not the president, and ending this program fulfills a promise that President Donald J. Trump made to restore the proper role of the executive and legislative branches. Now, the House and Senate, with the president’s leadership, will work to find consensus on a permanent legislative solution on this and many immigration issues, such as border security and interior enforcement."
Congress should indeed work swiftly under the six month guideline that President Trump has provided to finally come up with comprehensive immigration reform. No full amnesty should be given nor path to citizenship provided for those that were adults and knowingly broke our immigration laws when they came to the United States. Those minor and/or dependent children that were brought here by their parents, should be allowed to stay, along with their parents, but with the consequences I have suggested.
It is absolutely unfair to Americans, let alone all of those folks that would like to be Americans whom have respected our laws and asked to come into our country legally to be held to far higher standards than those that have entered illegally. After all, those folks trying to do things the right way – the legal way – are also Dreamers!
