Right On: Will dysfunctional Republicans fail the ‘Dreamers?’

September 13, 2017 Utah Channel 3

OPINION — The short answer is yes, most likely they will.

In the process, Republicans will miss a golden opportunity for an easy and popular political victory, prove they can’t govern as a majority and boost Democratic 2018 election prospects.

“Dreamers” is the name given to teens and young adults brought to this country illegally when they were young children, mostly from Latin America. Ours is the only country they have ever known. They’ve attended our schools and speak English as their first language.

They see themselves as Americans. And we should, too.

Yes, they are here illegally. But as a nation, we tolerated illegal immigration for decades when the Dreamers’ parents came to pick our crops, maintain our landscapes and clean our houses and hotel rooms. Politicians in both parties said much but did little.

Further complicating the problem, children born here to illegal parents are American citizens by virtue of our 14^th Amendment. Deporting their illegal parents and Dreamer siblings means deporting an innocent citizen along with them, both morally and legally wrong.

With a large number of young citizens mixed in with illegal parents, we have prioritized keeping families together by allowing these families to stay.

As a people, we are ambivalent about how to deal with the mess we’ve allowed to happen. Anti-immigration nationalists want to deport them all. The left sees them as another identity group to be exploited as an anti-Republican wedge issue.

Obama attempted to use Dreamers for cynical political purposes as part of his 2012 reelection bid. Unable to get his preferred immigration policies through a Republican-controlled House, he “legislated” from the White House.

He issued a clearly unconstitutional executive order creating the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, further poisoning immigration reform politics. DACA was subsequently slapped down by the courts.

As a result, Republicans decided Obama couldn’t be trusted and refused to enact any compromise immigration reform legislation. Yet Obama deported record numbers of illegal immigrants, a fact Trump acknowledged during his campaign.

According to current polls, only 15 percent of Americans want Dreamers deported. Most want them to receive a legal status allowing them to stay including the 58 percent who think they should become citizens after careful vetting.

Count me as one who believes Dreamers should be allowed to stay. I have been a consistent supporter of increased legal immigration for years.

In the short term, we need qualified workers when many jobs go begging nationwide and especially here in Southern Utah. Longer term, many Dreamers are going to college, getting advanced degrees and joining our military. They will value their citizenship.

While I have frequently disagreed with Trump, he is doing the right thing with DACA. He announced his intent to rescind Obama’s clearly unconstitutional executive order establishing the program. But he will wait six months, giving Congress time to enact legislation to address the issue.

Immigration is a fractious issue for Republicans. Congressional Republicans claim to be pushing legislation to support Dreamers but neither the House nor the Senate has made a serious effort this year. Now Trump has called their bluff with a six-month deadline.

House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell are fully aware that finding a solution acceptable to enough Republicans to pass each body will be difficult if not impossible. Yet, with broad public support for the Dreamers, even among Trump voters, failing to produce any legislation will punish Republicans at the polls in 2018. Republican leaders are likely to be forced to reach across the aisle to Democrats to find enough votes.

Democrats, who have demonstrated far more party discipline over the past eight years, would be in a position to demand provisions that they favor in exchange for their votes.

In my mind, Trump comes out the winner. He is ending the unconstitutional DACA program which pleases conservatives like me. But by deferring action against Dreamers for six months, he puts the onus on Congress to take action where that responsibility belongs. Further, he could require funding for his cherished border wall as the price for his signature on any bill.

So where do we go from here?

The root cause of many of our immigration woes is Section 1 of the Constitution’s 14^th Amendment. It states that anyone born within our borders is a citizen. This amendment, ratified in 1868, was intended to protect recently-emancipated slaves in the post-Civil War South. But today it has an unintended consequence when illegal immigrants give birth to new citizens within our borders.

Amending the Constitution to eliminate this anachronism would require approval by two-thirds of Congress and three-quarters of the states. I’d welcome the change but there is little chance that it will happen in my lifetime or yours. Democrats, playing identity politics, would portray it as anti-Hispanic.

Nonetheless we can and must continue efforts to end illegal immigration. Between Obama’s historically-high deportation levels and Trump’s anti-immigration rhetoric, the illegal flow has been substantially reduced if not reversed. Keep it up.

Trump’s border wall is symbolic and most likely not effective. Further, it unnecessarily antagonizes our neighbors in Mexico. Forget it.

Create a path for Dreamers to become citizens. Pass the bipartisan DREAM Act of 2017.

Finally, expand legal immigration opportunities for those with skills that benefit our economy. We should be welcoming high tech workers and entrepreneurs. Canada provides a highly successful nearby example praised worldwide. Start serious work in Congress now.

Let’s get immigration right and off the partisan political agenda.

Howard Sierer is an opinion columnist for St. George News. The opinions stated in this article are his own and may not be representative of St. George News.

Email: hsierer@stgeorgeutah.com

Twitter: @STGnews