Mr. President: Keep Your Promise on DACA, for Black Americans

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Photo credit Wikimedia Commons

A Wall St. Journal article on August 25th discusses the people who were brought to the US by their illegal alien parents, called by some “dreamers,” though they are just as illegal as their parents.

But in June of 2012 Obama, in effect, rewrote the Immigration and Naturalization Act, giving them legal status under DACA, which allows them to stay here and also work. According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, 1,267,834 applications had been accepted, through June 30, 2016.

During his campaign, Mr. Trump repeatedly promised to end DACA on day one of his term. As the WSJ points out, candidate Trump called DACA “an ‘unconstitutional executive amnesty,’ but, after [he] took office, he softened his stance and has allowed the program to continue, with his administration approving applications and renewals.”

“‘DACA is a very, very difficult subject for me,’” he said in a news conference in February [and other times]. ‘It’s one of the most difficult subjects I have because you have these incredible kids.’”

The late Jerry Lewis, who spearheaded fundraising for research into Multiple Dystrophy, called his beneficiaries “my kids,” but they really were kids. Trump’s kids, under DACA rules could be up to 36 years old today:

To be eligible for DACA, applicants must have been “under the age of 31 as of June 15, 2012,” meaning they could be 36 today. So, Mr. Trump’s calling them “incredible kids” is based on sentimental fantasy, not fact.

Now, eleven states have given the DOJ until September 5th to start enforcing existing law against beneficiaries of Obama’s illegal amnesty, or they will add DACA to their already successful suit against the Obama govt., regarding DAPA. That’s Obama’s second amnesty of 4 million parents, who are themselves illegal aliens, but have children who are citizens or lawful permanent residents.

DAPA was determined by the courts to be illegal, the Fifth Circuit upholding the lower court’s decision, noting that establishment of DAPA was beyond the president’s powers. SCOTUS was split, so the 5th Circuit decision stands.

Obviously, however incredible some of the dreamers may be (though some are criminals), establishing DACA was also beyond the president’s powers, and also illegal.

The Wall St. Journal article says that a deal might be possible to trade off Congress’s legalizing the DACA people in exchange for funding Trump’s wall. but the Journal says;

“Sen. Dick Durbin (D., Ill.), a longtime sponsor of the Dream Act that inspired the Dreamer nickname, is ‘always open to discussions about how to give permanent legal status to these young people,’ a spokesman said, ‘but the president’s border wall is a nonstarter.’”

Illinois senator Durbin, too, has much affection for the “incredible kids.” He’s been pushing for “immigration reform,” in particular the Dream Act, for years and has kept a place on his website to tell the stories of a number of them, many with their photos in graduation garb. In 2012, during the run-up to the vote on the Dream Act, and before Obama’s illegal amnesties, Durbin made a speech on the floor of the Senate beatifying one of these dreamers who was somehow special to the senator. The incident is illuminating about the senator and revealing about what some of these incredible kids actually are.

Her name was Alaa Mukahhal. Standing in the Senate, Durbin held up an enormous photo of Alaa, sporting a Muslim hijab, with an American flag displayed in the background. You can watch what turned out to be an embarrassing video of his speech here.

Reading from a letter she had written, he said:

“‘I’m an asset to this country, a resource, and I want to make good use of my degree.’”

He closed with:

“In the finest American tradition, Alaa has become an activist. She has stepped out to introduce herself to America, so we know who these Dream Act students are.”

Yes, we can always use more activists.

Breitbart reports that Durbin identified Alaa as: “a woman of Palestinian descent.” It has also been reported that in November 2012 she said on her Facebook page, “I’m undocumented in America today because of the Nakba in 1948.” Nakba means “catastrophe,” referring to the founding of Israel.

Alaa’s Facebook page (subsequently taken down) revealed that she might not be such an asset to America. According to her posts, she’s a rancorous, foul-mouthed, Israel-despising militant whose life revolves around “organizing.” In an open letter to her parents, she wrote:

“Dear Mama and Baba, I can’t stop organizing. Organizing is the reason I get up in the morning. I have to, need to organize because the alternative, doing nothing and staying silent is more oppressive than the immigration system itself.”

She blames Israel for her situation: “I’m undocumented in America today because of the catastrophe (Nakba) in 1948.” And she blames white people:

“Every damn time, without fail, there’s news about Muslim women, everybody suddenly becomes an expert about Islam, Muslims, women in Islam & Middle Eastern politics.

“Here’s a PSA: shut the f**k up.”

The Dream Act was passed by the Senate 68–32 in 2013, but it did not pass in the House.

It’s unclear why the Illinois senator is not so passionate about Chicago’s black children who attend substandard schools and risk getting shot. They also would like to have a future.

In defending DACA, Mr. Trump is aligning himself with such as Senator Durbin.

Steven A. Camarota, writing for the Center of Immigration studies, where he is the research director, says that only 58% of native-born black Americans without a college degree are working. He shows how continuing DACA will allow non-Americans to compete with black Americans in several occupations that are frequently filled by blacks without a college degree: “security jobs, long-haul truck driving, package delivery, and jobs that require workers to be bonded. These positions require valid Social Security numbers and IDs and the ability to pass a background check,” Camarota says; “but with DACA, they now have these things.”

He adds that: “The only way some kind of DACA-like amnesty should even be considered by Congress is in the context of reducing overall immigration levels, perhaps attached to the Reforming American Immigration for Strong Employment (RAISE) Act, introduced in revised form yesterday by Senators Tom Cotton and David Perdue.”

Now, the president must decide if his administration actually intends to wage a court battle to defend DACA—which he repeatedly promised to eliminate on his first day in office—or not pursue the Obama Admin’s defense of Texas, et al. v United States. The president should remember that there are millions of incredible black kids also, and they are Americans. In his nomination acceptance speech, Mr. Trump said:

“Every action I take, I will ask myself: does this make life better for young Americans in Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit, Ferguson who have as much of a right to live out their dreams as any other child America?”

Let’s hope he remembers this promise.


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