One segment of the nation’s population is awaiting with added anxiety some resolution to Congress’s inability to craft a long-term budget deal that keeps the government running.
I’m referring to those Americans who came here when they were children by parents who sneaked into the country illegally. They’re called “Dreamers” these days. They are people who have grown up as Americans, know no other country than the United States, but who are here illegally merely because of something their parents did.
You’ve heard stories about some of these individuals achieving great success. They have become graduating class valedictorians; they have received scholarships to prestigious universities; they have become successful in myriad professions.
President Barack Obama signed an executive order granting a form of temporary amnesty for these individuals. Donald J. Trump rescinded that order, but then told Congress to come up with a solution. All told we’re talking about roughly 5 million U.S. residents who are left hanging in limbo.
This is unconscionable. There can be no more heartless decision than to round these individuals up for deportation to a country they do not know. The vast majority of those who came here under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy were brought here from Latin America.
The longer it takes for Congress to settle its budget battles, the longer the odds get for those “Dreamers” to realize they can remain in the country where they came of age — and where they have achieved varying levels of success.
Yet they hear statements from Donald Trump that he doesn’t see any “deals” to find common ground with congressional Democrats, who recently backed out of a meeting with the president that was supposed to help move them closer to a resolution.
It is inhumane to punish these de facto Americans because of their parents’ actions.
Truth be told, a member of the president’s Cabinet — former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who’s now energy secretary — understands the value that DACA residents have brought to this country. If only he could persuade the Big Man to understand it as well.