The government should fix DACA and provide a permanent solution to the young and educated members of our country who live in uncertainty. President Obama was left with no choice but to issue an executive order enabling Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) on June 15, 2012. "It is an Obama-era program that granted temporary protection from deportation to roughly 700,000 young people, commonly known as DREAMers" (Espinoza-Madrigal, Ivan, BostonGlobe) .
The President acted by issuing an executive order as the Congress did not take any action in solving the uncertainty about the legal status of millions of young people who were brought to America through no choice of their own to stay for decades. The executive order gave hope to millions but the optimism did not last long.
Eight days after the first DACA applications were filed, the president of the labor union representing ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) brought a lawsuit to halt the program. This and various other lawsuits opposing DACA have been moving gradually through the federal court system.
DACA is a classical example of the Government failure in Washington. Our founding fathers had created the three branches for checks and balances. They were never created for in-action. Majority of the population supports a favorable legal status to these Dreamers and stop the uncertainty in this young generation.
DACA recipients are intelligent and hard working people who have been raised as Americans. They have been brought to this country at a very young age, and are doing everything that a common citizen will do. They did not break any law on their own. They have attended our schools and are good citizens. "To expel these young people who want to serve and contribute to this country cannot be justified on any human grounds" (Totenberg, Nina, NPR). Politicians are simply casting them as illegals because of the actions of their parents who entered illegally . These Dreamers are at the risk of losing their legal status and livelihood because of the inaction of politicians.
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Both House of Legislature and Senate have completely become the partisan institutions and are not interested in fixing our broken immigration system. Every politician talks about fixing DACA and immigration as a high priority before they get elected. Democrats and Republicans constantly show sympathy towards Dreamers. Once in power, the issue becomes less important and partisan bickering takes over. The endless blame game starts and the uncertainty about the future of these young people continues forcing them to live with constant fear of deportation.
President Obama tried to help these young DREAMERS by introducing a temporary measure and gave relief and hope to these young people. As a result of the executive order the DREAMers were allowed to legally work and go to school if they meet certain requirements and passed a background check. "Motivated by bias against immigrants and people of color, the Trump Administration canceled DACA despite uniform popularity across the political spectrum" (Hawgood, Sam, UCSF).
According to Trump administration the DACA program was "illegal" and "unconstitutional" from the time it was first put in place in 2012.When the two branches of government failed to solve the issue the next comes Judiciary. The U.S. Supreme Court is currently hearing the DACA case. "The anxiety has heightened as the conservative majority of justices may let the Trump administration shut down the Obama-era program" (Barnes, Robert, Washington Post).
The opponents of DACA state that it is not the matter if recipients of DACA deserve or don't deserve to be allowed to stay in the U.S. "The issue at stake is what power the Constitution gives the president to act alone by issuing executive orders, without seeking approval from Congress" (Spakovsky, Hans von, Fox News). They want the Supreme Court to give President Trump the authority to end the program. The opponents do not acknowledge that President Trump has agreed to provide a relief to DACA recipients and give time to Congress to make laws to handle this limbo provided Congress approves his signature Border Wall. We can say that both President Obama and President Trump have shown sympathy towards Dreamers. Thus it is up-to Congress to take up this issue and provide a permanent fix.
Although the lives of more than 700,000 young people are at stake, DACA provides a classical example of utmost failure of the government. Congress does not take any initiative to solve the problem, as the executive branch tries to do and undo the problem. Finally, the judicial branch will take a decision and may send it back to Congress for making law. Our founding fathers wanted the government to be accountable and instituted checks and balances. Even they could not foresee that the government can simply not act on a contentious but important issue of times. America is a democracy that should support the general public at times, but also act in its own will for the protection of the country. However, it is even more harmful if Congress does not take any action, and lets issues progress into heated arguments across the country.
Works Cited
Press Secretary, White House. "Remarks by the President on Immigration." National Archives and Records Administration, National Archives and Records Administration, 15 June 2012, obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2012/06/15/remarks-president-immigrati on.
Espinoza-Madrigal, Ivan. "DACA Is under Attack. It Would Be Devastating to Terminate It - The Boston Globe." BostonGlobe.com, The Boston Globe, 7 Nov. 2019, www.bostonglobe.com/2019/11/07/opinion/daca-is-under-attack-it-would-be-devastating -terminate-it/.
Hawgood, Sam. "Defending DACA." Office of the Chancellor, 4 Sept. 2017, chancellor.ucsf.edu/blog/defending-daca.
Totenberg, Nina. "Supreme Court May Side With Trump On 'DREAMers'." NPR, NPR, 13 Nov. 2019, www.npr.org/2019/11/13/778545559/supreme-court-may-side-with-trump-on-dreamers.
Spakovsky, Hans von. "It's Time to End DACA – It's Unconstitutional Unless Approved by Congress." Fox News, FOX News Network, 23 Jan. 2019, www.foxnews.com/opinion/its-time-to-end-daca-its-unconstitutional-unless-approved-by -congress.
Barnes, Robert. "Trump Administration Defends Ending DACA, and Supreme Court's Conservatives Seemed Receptive." The Washington Post, WP Company, 13 Nov. 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/trump-administration-tells-supreme-courtit-owns-termination-of-daca-program/2019/11/12/2ac4f4ea-0545-11ea-b17d-8b867891d3 9d_story.html.
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