In her Washington Post syndicated column, Jennifer Rubin writes a must-read piece, “Democrats Can’t Shut Down the Government, But They Can Win on DACA,”:
Democrats cannot shut down the government. They are the minority party and have neither the power nor the responsibility to keep the lights on and the government open.
…the real question is whether, in exchange for getting the GOP off the hook (if the GOP cannot find votes to fund the government), Democrats will condition their help on a DACA fix. They’d be nuts not to.
…A DACA fix (as well as reauthorizing the Children’s Health Insurance Program, known as CHIP) should be a no-brainer for Democrats. A CBS poll this month showed 84 percent of Americans, including 74 percent of Republicans, favor keeping the dreamers. A Fox News poll found 83 percent of voters favor protection for the dreamers.
…Since DACA is a base-pleaser, popular with the country at large and a winner with business donors, it sure sounds like a political winner for Democrats. To pull this off without getting blame for the shutdown, Democrats should remind voters of several simple points: (1) The GOP can fund the government if it wants to; (2) the dreamers were innocent children when they were brought here and now live productive lives; and (3) if Democrats don’t do this now, Trump’s promise to address DACA later will turn out like most every promise of his — a con, a fraud, a bait-and-switch.
In Roll Call, Theresa Cardinal Brown of the Bipartisan Policy Center explains in “Why a DACA Fix Next Year Would Come Too Late” how and why there’s no time for a delay in passing a Dreamer legislative fix, noting that the amount of time it takes to ramp up a new government program means that swift action is needed to ensure that as few lives are disrupted as possible:
Beyond the political posturing and jockeying for leverage, there is a pragmatic reason why any fix, if that is what both parties really want, should happen this year: it takes months for the government to ramp up a new program … The end-of-the-year deadline for action is not just about who has political leverage. It is a real deadline to provide a real solution for people who must make real-life decisions right now. Congress should not leave them hanging.
Cristina Jimenez, Executive Director of United We Dream, writes an op-ed in Newsweek titled, “Immigrant Youth to Congress: You Have Two Weeks to Pass the Dream Act”:
More than 30 Republican members of Congress have publicly called for immigrant youth to be protected before the end of the year, and Democrats have been vocal about the need for action. The Dream Act can and must be included in the year-end budget negotiations, and it is time for members of Congress from both parties to insist on making that happen. Congress has two weeks to protect immigrant youth, and if they do not, the pain and horror of our experience will be on their hands.
A Dreamer from North Carolina, Jorge Cabrera, writes an op-ed in the Greensboro News and Record titled, “Waiting for a DACA Solution”:
I grew up in Greensboro, and it’s the only home I really remember. So many in the Greensboro community helped shaped my future — from the support of my baseball and soccer coaches to the guidance of my teachers. Of course, the deepest thanks are reserved for my parents and their sacrifices on my behalf. Despite working constantly to provide for me and my siblings, my parents did not even miss one of my Little League baseball games.
Now, a big part of my future depends on what Congress may decide in the coming weeks. In September, President Trump announced the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which allowed me and 800,000 other young immigrants who grew up in America protections from deportations and the chance to fulfill our potential through employment and education. More than 25,000 DACA recipients live here in North Carolina. Every one of us arrived in America as a minor and has lived here since 2007 or before. And every one of us now needs Congress to act on our behalf by passing legislation to replace the DACA program with a permanent solution.
In Utah, local Dreamer Xochitl Juarez writes an op-ed in the Salt Lake Tribune, “Without the Dream Act, I Could Lose Everything”:
Every day I say my prayer on my way to work: “God, please help all of us who are scared about the future.” In Utah, DACA has allowed more than 9,700 young people like me to come forward, pass background checks, and live and work legally. We need our lawmakers to find a solution so we can keep contributing to this place we love.
DACA transformed my life. Over the past few years, I have been working with foster children who have been sexually or physically abused or neglected by their biological families and who have autism and or some other developmental disability.
…I would like to tell Rep. Chris Stewart that this is the only home I know. I’m giving back everything I can. Please fight for people like me to continue our lives here, and sponsor the Dream Act.
