DACA Decision Demagoguery

Well, President Trump really made the left’s blood boil earlier this week when he announced that he would discontinue Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, an executive order signed by President Obama in 2012 that temporarily shielded around 800,000 illegal immigrants brought to the country as children from deportation.  Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who has become one of the left’s favorite punching bags, announced the decision on Tuesday morning; the same day that ten states would have filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration for failing to rescind the executive order, which they believe is unconstitutional.  Even liberals like California’s Senior Senator Dianne Feinstein have admitted that the decision rests on shaky legal ground.  President Obama himself had previously admitted several times that he did not have the authority to unilaterally change immigration law.  But he did it anyway, feeling his decision would benefit his re-election campaign.  The left should celebrate the fact that President Trump’s discontinuation of DACA does not go into effect until March 5.  President Trump has now allowed Congress between now and then to decide whether it wants to write DACA into law. 

 

It seems likely that the Senate will pass a legislative version of DACA.  Remember that 14 Senate Republicans voted in favor of “The Gang of Eight” bill four years ago. Back then, the Democrats controlled the Senate; with 55 seats to the Republicans’ 45.  The Republicans now control the upper chamber 52-48.  11 of the 14 Republicans who voted for the “Gang of Eight” bill still serve in the Senate. Two of the remaining three lost their re-election bids last year. The fourteenth Republican, appointed by Chris Christie to fill a Senate vacancy, was replaced by Cory Booker after a special election took place later in 2013.  If all 48 Democrats and the same eleven Republicans who voted for “The Gang of Eight” vote for DACA, that would bring the number of votes to 59; one shy of the magic number of 60.  However, Republican Thom Tillis (R-NC), who first took office in 2014, has indicated he would support a legislative version of DACA.  His support would give the bill 60 votes.     

 

While House Speaker Paul Ryan has expressed his support for the continuation of DACA, it remains unclear how the rest of the House Republicans will vote; as they did not vote on the “Gang of Eight” bill.  Republicans currently control the House with 240 seats to the Democrats’ 194 seats.  Since all House Democrats will probably throw their support behind a legislative version of DACA, the bill only needs the support of 24 House Republicans to pass.              

 

Both sides of the immigration debate use rhetorical devices to try and persuade people that their position is superior to their opponents’.  “Logos” attempts to persuade people using logic, reason, and empirical evidence while “pathos” attempts to persuade people using emotion and anecdotal evidence.   

 

Democrats have decided to embrace the “pathos” argument for allowing the group of illegal immigrants protected under DACA to stay in the country.  They will talk about how these kids came here at a very young age without realizing they were breaking the law and that many of them have not committed any crimes; other than illegally entering the country.  A small group of Republicans occasionally try their hands at “pathos” by highlighting individuals who have lost their loved ones because of crimes committed by those in the country illegally.  Many of these people had speaking platforms at the Republican National Convention while the Democrats allowed illegal immigrants to speak at their convention.  Shortly after taking office, President Trump created a whole office designed to highlight these tragic stories; called the Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement (VOICE).  However, the mainstream media rarely covers these types of stories; as they find themselves much more sympathetic to the plight of the dreamers.       

 

A handful of Republicans, on the other hand, embrace the “logos” argument; arguing that the “dreamers” should return to their home country and “get in line” with the rest of the people seeking to come into our country legally.  They talk about the immigration debate from an economic standpoint, primarily by citing the large amount of social services consumed by illegal immigrant families.  They also bring up the fact that giving amnesty to dreamers will likely encourage more illegal immigration down the road.  That’s exactly what happened after the passage of the “Immigration Reform and Control Act” in 1986; which gave amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants.  Another argument talks about the effect the “dreamers” have on the job prospects and wages of American millennials. During a press briefing earlier this week, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders pointed out that “there are over 4 million unemployed Americans in the same age group as those that are DACA recipients; that over 950,000 of those are African Americans in the same age group; over 870,000 unemployed Hispanics in the same age group.” Apparently, the left does not believe in fulfilling the “dreams” of these people.     

 

The left’s reaction to the President’s decision to end DACA borders on hysterical.  Many cosmopolitan elites in the mainstream media quickly denounced the President’s decision as “cruel.”  Several high school students in Denver walked out of class to protest the President’s decision.  Something tells me these students won’t face any consequences for their decision to ditch school.  Let’s not forget that certain people can get away with breaking rules and laws.  Led by Trump-hating New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, Democratic Attorneys General in fifteen states and the District of Columbia have already filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration; arguing that the DACA decision was based purely on the President’s contempt for Mexicans. Surprisingly, the list does not include ultra-liberal California; which boasts a large population of illegal immigrants.  What law school did these people go to?  It seems like they made a purely political decision, rather than a legal or Constitutional one.      

 

Hopefully, President Trump will not sign any bill that allows DACA recipients to remain in the United States unless it contains funding for the border wall and/or the RAISE Act.  We’ll see if the Democrats have any desire to compromise.  Some Democrats have already made it clear that they have no intention of supporting such a bill. The question remains as to whether the Congressional Republicans have the guts to draw a line in the sand.        

 

The DACA decision provides the latest example of the intensity of the immigration debate in the United States.  I happen to agree with this statement from Michael Needham, CEO of Heritage Action America: “We need an immigration policy that makes sense for over 320 million Americans, not for small segments of sympathetic groups.”  The idea of basing our immigration policy on the doctrines of political correctness has torn the country apart.  Don’t expect the American left, which has greatly benefitted from the division, to jump on board with any decision to change our immigration policy anytime soon.