Sunday, February 4, 2018

DACA and Dreamers

Immigration has been getting quite a lot of attention lately. In particular the DACA program protecting "dreamers" (children brought to this country illegally by their parents) from deportation.  This was a program begun by Obama and allowed to expire by Trump. It is/was not a good program. It is the result of bad immigration policy and law that has needed attention for decades. Neither Democrats nor Republicans have any desire to fix it though. Arguing over the status quo helps energize the base of both parties and gets out the votes. To the detriment of everyone.
America is a country of immigrants. Founded by immigrants. Built by immigrants. Defended by immigrants. Made great by immigrants. The Great Melting Pot is as integral to our history and culture as the Declaration of Independence is.  The Statue of Liberty is a symbol to the world of the freedom offered by the US and a beacon to " your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free..." The very same folks Congressman Womack called "depraved" from countries Trump apparently considers "shitholes." To deny this, to disparage immigrants, is to disrespect and deny the values and essence of the United States of America. In fact, the Constitution and our founding fathers deliberately gave no authority to the government to regulate immigration at all. 
Critics of immigration point out that there are hazards that can't be ignored, and there is some merit. The Constitution DOES give the authority to the government to defend it's borders. We SHOULD be ensuring that prospective immigrants that wish to do us harm do not make it here. A wall will not do this. Deporting children of illegal immigrants will not do this. A broken immigration system will not do this.
Much is made of the cost of providing services and welfare to illegal immigrants. Much of what we call welfare is not available to illegal immigrants, but there are services provided that taxpayers pay for. The problem doesn't lie with the immigration though. "Fix" illegal immigration and we still have huge problems with the welfare state that need to be solved. Fix the problems of the welfare state and there is no longer an issue with illegal immigration. Illegal immigration is a symptom of what's wrong. We need to fix the problem, not the symptom.

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