Pirate's Cove

Perhaps there could be a good reason that a legalization for the so-called Dreamers has never been passed, namely that it would reward law breakers and entice more to break the law, but, hey, this is Important to the Washington Post editorial board

Congress, why wait for the court to act on ‘dreamers’? Just do the right thing.

IN THE expansive realm of congressional dysfunction, there are few recent examples that surpass the failure to shield from deportation hundreds of thousands of unauthorized migrants, now in their 20s and 30s, who have grown up, studied and entered the job force after being brought to the United States as children. Here is a youthful cohort of more than 700,000 — as ambitious and promising as their native-born neighbors, classmates, co-workers and friends — whom large majorities of Americans want to protect. And still their fate remains hostage to Capitol Hill’s habitual gridlock.

As the Supreme Court hears legal arguments Tuesday on the Obama-era policy that provided a reprieve from removal and gave job permits to hundreds of thousands of young unauthorized immigrants, and on the Trump administration’s 2017 attempt to rescind that policy, it’s worth remembering some history. Specifically, that members of Congress of both parties have been trying, and failing, to codify those very protections for so-called dreamers nearly since the turn of the century.

They’re ambitious! They’re promising! And mostly end up taking jobs and college spots from lawful U.S. citizens, more often backed by taxpayer money. Anyhow, this might have worked way back in 2001 when “Sen. Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican, and Sen. Richard J. Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, introduced the Dream Act” originally, but, that didn’t provide any deterrents for future cases of parents bringing kids illegally, and it ended up rewarding the parents who “committed the sin” of crossing the border illegally/overstaying their visas

Perversely, it is imaginable that Congress, and perhaps even Mr. Trump, could be jarred into acting on the dreamers’ behalf by a Supreme Court ruling that removed their protections and job security. Mass layoffs and waves of deportations, along with the financial distress those would trigger, could create the sort of crisis that focuses minds in Washington when all else fails. And the fiscal and economic impact of layoffs affecting hundreds of thousands of employees, and others still in college, would be consequential. A 2017 CATO Institute study found that deporting 750,000 young people protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program would sap the U.S. economy by $280 billion over a decade, and the federal tax coffers by an additional $60 billion.

Monetary concerns should have no bearing on dealing with law breakers. People who commit crimes lose their jobs, go to jail, and create financial distress to their families all the time. The same CATO also notes

We estimate that DREAMers had an incarceration rate of 0.98 percent in 2015 compared to a native-born incarceration rate of 1.12 percent, a DACA-ineligible illegal immigrant incarceration rate of 0.38 percent, and a legal immigrant incarceration rate of 0.24 percent (Figure 1).

That’s all nice, but, do you know what the incarceration rate for Dreamers should be? Zero. They shouldn’t be here, same as the “DACA-ineligible.” A US Citizenship and Immigration Services study also found

• Almost 8-percent of total DACA requestors (59,786 individuals) had arrest records as of the date the systems were queried, which included offenses such as assault and battery, rape, murder, and drunk driving, among others.  “Requestors” includes individuals approved and denied DACA.
• Of those individuals whose DACA requests were approved and had one or more arrests or apprehensions, 53,792 were arrested or apprehended prior to their most recent approval.
• Approximately 13-percent (7,814) of approved DACA requestors with an arrest had an arrest after their grant was approved and prior to renewal.

In fairness, most had no arrests. But, they’re still ripping off the Unites States, and Demanding that they be given money, food, education, healthcare, housing, oh, and that their parents be given lawful status too. As I wrote in 2017

Here’s a recommendation: Congress puts DACA into law, but allows 4 year renewals, rather than 2 years, in order to decrease burden on federal agencies. Just like with people who are applying for citizenship, any serious crimes can be cause to cancel an illegals legal status and deport them. And, yes, even DUIs may be considered cause, just like with those applying for citizenship. After 12 years, they can go through the same process as those applying for citizenship in order to attempt to earn full citizenship.

BUT, if we aren’t going to lay the “sins” of the parent(s) on the children, we are going to lay them on the parent(s). In order to obtain DACA status, the parent(s) must self deport, and provide proof at an immigration checkpoint as they leave. They are not allowed back in the United States for 2 years, and then only for a short visit. If they are caught residing in the U.S., or attempting to enter the country illegally, the children will have their DACA status ended and will be deported. After 12 years, they would be allowed to apply for temporary resident status, conditioned on speaking English and having good moral character. This seems fair. The parents broke our laws.

If you don’t agree with punishing the parents, then you’re simply using DACA to create a backdoor amnesty for all.

All the DACA attempts give the parents a pathway to staying in the U.S..

Read: Washington Post Tells Congress To Forget Supreme Court, Just Pass Amnesty For Dreamers »