DACA

LeftyLucy

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I'm off of work sick today, so have been dallying about online quite a bit and just spent a long time arguing with people on Facebook about DACA. I know that the handful of people I encounter are not a reasonable sample of all those who oppose DACA, but the ones I've been seeing today are remarkably uninformed about what DACA actually is. A lot of people apparently believe DACA is financial support - that DACA recipients receive monthly checks from the government (one particularly delightful woman even brought out the "Obama phone" - that DACA recipients get "our" hard-earned money and free "Obama phones" for "sitting on their asses and not doing a damn thing" - then she got enraged at being called ignorant). And what do you even say to that kind of willful stupidity? The kind of stupidity that is so stubborn, it cannot be swayed, even when presented with firm evidence.

I am so sick of "I know what I know" people.
 

Chris P

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Dang, I meant to post this, too. The list of religious groups who are condemning this move includes some Evangelical ministries. The fact that he's willing to risk some small part of his base over this seems to me even stronger evidence of the racial cleansing aspect of this administration's goals.

In certain areas, evangelical worship is hugely popular among immigrant populations. My ex-brother-in-law is an Assembly of God minister in the Memphis area, and they were flooded with Hispanic congregants. The evangelicals (for better or worse) were also quickly becoming the dominant group in Uganda when I lived there a few years ago. Out of Christian love for, enlightened self interest regarding or (hopefully not but for sure in some cases) exploitation of immigrant populations it shouldn't be surprising we would see some support from such groups.
 

rugcat

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Dang, I meant to post this, too. The list of religious groups who are condemning this move includes some Evangelical ministries. The fact that he's willing to risk some small part of his base over this seems to me even stronger evidence of the racial cleansing aspect of this administration's goals.
I don't think Trump cares much one way or the other. But Jeff Sessions has been on this bandwagon since before Trump was president. I don't think Trump "sent him out" to announce it; I think Sessions was eager and champing at the bit to be the public face of getting rid of DACA.

He and his fellow hard right compatriots put a lot of pressure on Trump to do this. This has little to do with immigration policy and much to do with keeping their core supporters (and racist base) enthusiastic.
 

Lyv

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Senate Bill S. 1615 (I linked to it above) gained two co-sponsors this morning. One of them is a Republican, and it's Cory Gardner, whose name usually raises my blood pressure. It's one of the bills I'm following on Congress.gov. I didn't realize this, but according to Denver Post, aides have said the bill's supporters "its supporters wanted to add lawmakers in pairs of one Democrat and one Republican."
 

nighttimer

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If you support DACA, be loud. I'm looking for an updated list of legislators who have spoken in support of DACA, will post if I find one.

Well, here's a couple of Democratic legislators who opposed DACA and other legislation which would have provided immigration reform and a path to citizenship, including (surprise!) St. Bernie Sanders.
The House passed a Dream Act in 2010 that would have allowed illegal immigrants to apply for citizenship if they entered the United States as children, graduated from high school or got an equivalent degree, and had been in the United States for at least five years.

Five moderate Democrats in the Senate voted no. If each of them had supported it, the bill would have become law, DACA would have been unnecessary, and this manufactured political crisis now facing Congress would have been averted.


Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) is the only one of those five Democrats still left in the upper chamber. Two lost reelection in 2014 (Kay Hagan in North Carolina and Mark Pryor in Arkansas), and two retired (Ben Nelson in Nebraska and Max Baucus in Montana). West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin said he would have opposed the bill, but he skipped the vote.


Despite being up for reelection next year in a state that Donald Trump carried by 21 points, Tester spoke out yesterday against the president’s decision to end the DACA program. Compare the press release he sent out after his “no” vote seven years ago to what he said last night:


“Illegal immigration is a critical problem facing our country, but amnesty is not the solution,” he said in Dec. 2010. “I do not support legislation that provides a path to citizenship for anyone in this country illegally.”


Discussing the exact same group of people – undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as minors -- Tester said yesterday:

“America’s immigration system is badly broken and needs fixing, but breaking a promise to these children–who are here through no fault of their own–is not the solution. Congress must work together, Democrats and Republicans, to secure our borders, crack down on folks illegally entering our country, and provide a way forward for innocent kids.”


Yes, this is a cautious statement. But it’s also a clear change in his position that reflects Tester’s desire to avoid the backlash he faced from his left flank in 2010 after voting no on the Dream Act.

Politicians always look for a "solution" that provides a band-aid when surgery is required.

Fifteen Senate Democrats, plus a democratic socialist named Bernie Sanders, voted against a carefully crafted immigration bill in 2007 that would have created a pathway to citizenship for 12 million illegal immigrants. Ted Kennedy negotiated with George W. Bush’s White House, but the AFL-CIO mobilized against the hard-won compromise because union leaders believed that more competition in the labor force from guest workers would depress wages for the native-born.

Sanders, who joined with Jeff Sessions to kill what turned out to be the last best hope in a generation for true reform, paid a political price in the 2016 Democratic primaries for siding with organized labor over the Latino community.



“Sanctions against employers who employ illegal immigrants (are) virtually nonexistent,” the Vermont senator complained at a press conference 10 summers ago, as he stood alongside union leader Richard Trumka, now the AFL-CIO’s president. “Our border is very porous. … At a time when the middle class is shrinking, the last thing we need is to bring over, a period of years, millions of people into this country who are prepared to lower wages for American workers.”


Fast forward to this Labor Day. Speaking Monday at a breakfast sponsored by the New Hampshire AFL-CIO, Sanders called Trump’s decision to end DACA “one of the most cruel and ugly decisions ever made in the modern history of this country by a president.” The senator said Trump is “trying to divide our nation up based on the color of our skin (and) based on the country in which we were born.” “Our job as trade unionists, as our job as progressives, is to bring the American people together and to fight any and all attempts to divide us up,” Sanders told the crowd of union members.


-- That 2007 vote was only a decade ago, but it feels like an eternity. In the intervening years, there really has been a sea change in Democratic politics.
Not a single Senate Democrat, or Sanders, opposed the bipartisan immigration bill that passed the Senate in 2013 but never got a vote in the GOP-controlled House.

The end of DACA came at the hands of a Republican president and he's kicked the can over to a Republican Congress to come up with a plan to "save" it. This is now a Republican problem, but don't forget it was craven Democrats who could have avoided all of this had they acted out of compassion instead of cynical political calculation.
 

Myrealana

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Senate Bill S. 1615 (I linked to it above) gained two co-sponsors this morning. One of them is a Republican, and it's Cory Gardner, whose name usually raises my blood pressure. It's one of the bills I'm following on Congress.gov. I didn't realize this, but according to Denver Post, aides have said the bill's supporters "its supporters wanted to add lawmakers in pairs of one Democrat and one Republican."
Yes.
Our two senators, Cory Gardner and Michael Bennet released a joint statement in favor of the act. Finally.

Gardner has been a hard-line Trumpeter from the day he became the presumptive nominee. I've called and written him many times since January, and I've not usually had anything good to say. I'm frankly shocked he is willing to oppose his lord and master in anything. I do NOT think it signals any kind of a shift in his views, just a politician reading the winds and seeing there are certain things Coloradans aren't going to tolerate, and maybe understanding that no matter how many Pawnee farmers back him, he needs votes from all OVER the state, and particularly in the cities, where over half the population actually lives.
 

Lyv

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Well, here's a couple of Democratic legislators who opposed DACA and other legislation which would have provided immigration reform and a path to citizenship, including (surprise!) St. Bernie Sanders.
Not defending Democrats, but pointing out that Bernie Sanders sure isn't a Democrat and the last thing I would call him is a saint. Not a fan and wasn't before he ran for president.

The end of DACA came at the hands of a Republican president and he's kicked the can over to a Republican Congress to come up with a plan to "save" it. This is now a Republican problem, but don't forget it was craven Democrats who could have avoided all of this had they acted out of compassion instead of cynical political calculation.


Not for the first time. I don't forget. I wish I were better at working the "this will help you politically" angle with legislators.
 

Lyv

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Listening to NY AG Eric Schneiderman announcing A "multi-state lawsuit to protect DACA recipients."

Article

"The president has made numerous statements on the campaign trail and in office disparaging Mexicans. We allege the president's own statements make clear that DREAMers are being targeted based on their national origin," said Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson (D), who is heading up the effort with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (D) and Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey (D). Democratic attorneys general from Connecticut, Delaware, D.C., Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Virginia also signed on to the lawsuit.

Press release with a link to the lawsuit.

Edited to add a new article:

The 4 bills Congress is seriously considering to protect ‘dreamers’
 
Last edited:

Lyv

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On 8/28:
Washington, DC – Today, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) announced he will be introducing an amendment to the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act that would prohibit any funds to be used for the deportation of individuals granted deferred action under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, the "DREAMers." Since the creation of DACA, more than 750,000 young undocumented immigrants have been granted work permits and deportation relief. Approximately one quarter of all DACA recipients live in California.

“For many DREAMers, America is the only home they’ve ever known, and deporting these young people would be cruel and wrong,” Rep. Schiff said. “Hundreds of thousands of young people enrolled in the DACA program because they believed in the promise of America and were assured protection from deportation. This amendment will ensure that we keep our promise to these young people.”


The Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriation Act allocates funding for government programs for Fiscal Year 2018. The bill will be considered by Congress in September.

Today, that effort was blocked by the GOP.

But I'm sure some of those who blocked it will say some nice words about DACA recipients and post more Scripture. Meanwhile, the bills linked above are gaining Democratic co-sponsors, but I haven't seen another Republican to sign on to any of them since Gardner did yesterday.
 

cornflake

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According to dems who had Chinese food and chocolate pie with Trump (the best pie!), he agreed to a deal to make DACA protections permanent and basically give up on the whole wall thing.

The WH says no.

I suspect this happened, and we'll all wait until Republicans rush in to say something else that'll change his mind, then etc., until someone is the last in the room before something gets signed. I also suspect they announced thinking it'd make him stick to it, but ... that's not a thing. You have to move before anyone realizes what's happening, lest someone tell him something else, because then you're just fucked, imo.

Story here.

Congressional aides familiar with the exchange said that Trump and the party leaders agreed to move quickly on legislation to protect dreamers and provide them permanent legal status in the United States. It was not clear whether they agreed that the goal should be for dreamers to eventually have a path to citizenship.

In a statement, Schumer and Pelosi said they had “a very productive meeting at the White House with the President. The discussion focused on DACA. We agreed to enshrine the protections of DACA into law quickly, and to work out a package of border security, excluding the wall, that’s acceptable to both sides.”

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed that DACA and border security were discussed but she said excluding border wall funding from a package deal was “certainly not agree to.”