With an overwhelming majority of the American people backing Congressional action to resolve the crisis facing Dreamers that the President created when he ended DACA, editorial boards are voicing their opinion as well: Pass the Dream Act ASAP!
Read excerpts of editorials from key publications below:
From the Washington Post — Ignore the president. Vote on the DACA deal:
That’s the pact struck by a bipartisan group of senators, including Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) and Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), who presented it to the president last week. The deal has plenty for both sides to dislike, and it omits most of the items on their wish lists; in other words, it’s a compromise. But it would grant most dreamers eventual citizenship and appropriate $2.7 billion in the fiscal year starting this fall for beefed-up border security, more than half of it for Mr. Trump’s “beautiful” wall — the one he said Mexico would pay for. This “dream deal” is not, and cannot be, all things to all people. Its limited purpose is to resolve an immediate problem triggered by Mr. Trump when he announced the dismantling of DACA last fall, starting March 5. In doing so, the president himself urged Congress to resolve the dreamers’ status. The time to act is now…
From the Sacramento Bee — Stop the insanity: Californians in Congress should back Dreamers compromise.
President Donald Trump toys with the lives of 700,000 Dreamers, while partisans threaten a government shutdown and federal agents hint at arrests for local officials who dare defy them. And yet, a few members of Congress are seeking common ground … The entire California congressional delegation should join Denham and Aguilar in that effort. All 53 members of Congress from California standing as one in support of the compromise would send a powerful message to Trump and the rest of the country that this brinkmanship must end. Of course, that also would require House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, to display leadership by helping to end the unnecessary and dehumanizing standoff, and to deliver for his state, which is home to 200,000-plus individuals spared deportation under the DACA program.
From the Houston Chronicle — What’s next after an immigration deal goes bust?
For a brief, shining moment it seemed as if Washington was on the verge of untangling the political Gordian Knot of immigration reform. In an extraordinary televised White House meeting between the president and legislators last week, Donald Trump said he would simply sign whatever immigration deal was worked out and promised to “take all the heat for both Democrats and Republicans.” All that changed when a bipartisan “Gang of Six” senators called his bluff and proposed a compromise that involved a path to citizenship for Dreamers, legal residency for their families and trading spots in the visa lottery in exchange for maintaining Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for people from countries such as El Salvador. The deal was far more restrictionist than most Democrats and plenty of Republicans would have wanted, but seemed crafted to appease Trump’s anti-immigration agenda … It’s well past time for Congress to stop the madness of excessive partisanship and political extremism and come up with an immigration policy that is reasonable, humane and forward-looking.
From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch — DACA was a done deal until Trump’s ego came into the equation.
Leaders of both parties in Congress agree that our nation should not deport immigrant youths who grew up here and have nowhere else to go. They also don’t want the government to shut down over a silly argument. But neither of these pressing problems can be solved if a mercurial, ego-driven president can’t be trusted to honor his own words.
From the Minneapolis Star Tribune — Despite latest Trump firestorm, make a deal on DACA.
A group of six bipartisan senators forged an agreement that would offer a citizenship path for those brought to this country as children by undocumented parents. The deal included increased border security and was a way for Congress to avoid a painful and unnecessary government shutdown … If Ryan hopes to salvage anything from this, he should provide the leadership that the president has not, working toward actual compromise with the Democrats whose votes are needed to fend off a government shutdown by theFriday’s deadline.
From the Baltimore Sun — DACA isn’t dead yet:
Maybe a compromise is possible, maybe it isn’t. But right now, everybody needs to cool off and go back to having rational discussions about Dreamers. Polls show eight in 10 Americans think Dreamers should stay and be given an opportunity to become citizens. The GOP hardliners simply don’t represent the public sentiment on this. Mr. Trump needs to spend less time with the Stephen Millers of the West Wing and more with the Senator Grahams who have a better grasp of reality. If the president follows Mr. Miller’s lead, he’s going to find a lot fewer Republicans in Congress after the mid-term election than if he demonstrates that he’s the deal-maker he’s always claimed to be, someone who can actually reach out to Democrats on immigration in a manner Barack Obama wasn’t able to achieve with Republicans. Isn’t that the victory he’s been looking for?
From the Lawrence Journal World (Kansas) — A bill that should succeed:
Trump appeared to be doing what his predecessors couldn’t: bring both parties together to move the needle on immigration. Sen. Lindsay Graham, a South Carolina Republican, and Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, brought to the table a bipartisan bill that addressed issues in a way most Americans support … Here’s hoping Graham and Durbin do succeed, not only because their proposal makes sense but also because it’s long past time for our leaders in Washington to show they can put country before party.
From the Gainesville Times (Florida) — Lifting up the lamp for ‘Dreamers’:
These people did not willingly come here, nor violate any law. They go to school, speak English and have assimilated into their adopted country even if their parents struggled to do so. Many have never visited their birth country even as they still embrace its culture. Some attend colleges in Hall County and elsewhere; others serve in the military or plan to do so. They are fully ingrained in American life. Now they want the right to pursue their educations and careers without the risk of being sent back to what is, to them, a foreign land. Though the debate over illegal immigration has many facets and gray areas, this one seems cut and dried, even to most hard-line conservatives who oppose “amnesty.” These kids make the country better.
