In his “governance by chaos” style, President Trump is forcing Congress to address immigration issues with a tight six-month deadline by promising to repeal the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy instituted by President Obama. DACA has always stuck in the craw of those who support enforcing the laws on the books, as it set a Federal policy that the 14th Amendment and Title VIII of the Federal code were going to be openly ignored. What’s more, it was done by Executive Order from the President–and not be Congressional approval.
But childhood arrivals are one of those sticky subjects were two legal issues collide–with no clear direction as to which law should take precedent. Those who came to this country illegally with their parents for decades do not in any way meet the legal definition of citizenship. They were not born here, they are not naturalized. However, they were minor parties to a crime perpetrated by their parents–entering in country outside legal immigration means.
We see cases of children involved in other crimes all the time. Parents have committed burglaries and armed robberies, sold drugs to undercover informants or run meth labs in the presence of their children quite often. Some even taught their kids to steal items from stores, because they knew that management wouldn’t prosecute a child. But in none of those cases were the children held accountable for the crimes of their parents. And that should not be the case for childhood arrivals as well.
These so-called “Dreamers” would still be in the shadows–and less likely to face deportation early next year–had President Obama not sought to create another class of Government-dependent residents with the DACA registration process. A great deal of effort went into convincing these people to come forward, provide the Government with their information on the unilateral promise of one man that they wouldn’t be held responsible for their situation. They were asked to ignore the likelihood that a succeeding administration would choose to enforce the laws on the books–making it much easier to find them now for deportation.
If we are to hold to the precedent set in not prosecuting those who were minors during the time their parents committed a crime, than the “dreamers” should not be deported. And Congress should act within the six month time frame set by President Trump’s executive order overturning the previous executive order. It’s what we do in a society that governs by the rule of law.
