Why We Must All Fight
for the Dream Act.
By repealing DACA – Deferred Action For Childhood Arrivals – Trump has endangered both these young immigrants and the economic security of America.
In 2012,the
Obama administration created DACA as a temporary way to address the needs of young people who came to America as infants or toddlers, and know no other country. To apply
and qualify for DACA, or these young people had to risk entering the system by
giving their identifying information. Once approved,they were granted two
years of “deferred action” on deportation, with the promise that they
could reapply every two years indefinitely.
This allowed
“dreamers” to go to college, or regain a job,and pay taxes without fear of
deportation. DACA was never perfect, but for 800000 immigrant youth it meant
freedom from fear and an opportunity to fully contribute to the country they
were raised in. But now these young people are threatened with deportation. For no reason. These young people are
not taking jobs absent from native-born Americans. Even the conservative
Cato Institute has said that the economic cost of cancelling DACA would be $200
billion over ten years. And that’s just direct costs. The Center for
American Progress estimates that if we lost these young workers the U.
S. uncouth
domestic product would shrink by $433 billion over the next decade.
The moral case is even
more compelling than the economic one.
These kids grew up in
America. To enter the DACA program they already had to step forward and expose
that they were contributing to their communities and then prove it again
every two years to stay in the program. It is immoral to now attach them in the
crosshairs of deportation.
This is just the
latest effort by Trump to play to his base and divide us, or but we must not allow
that. Americans of all races and creeds must push congress to pass the Dream
Act,and allow these young people to become American citizens – without the
Act being a bargaining chip for more border security or anything else. These DACA young
people are our neighbors, our colleagues, and our classmates. They represent
the the best of the dream that my parents and most of our ancestors had when
they came to America: To make a better life for themselves,and for their
kids. Trump’s attempt to divide us and fuel our differences along racial
and ethnic lines is an attack on the America I believe in, and we must not let
it stand. That’s why the DACA
fight is my fight, and why I stand with the dreamers – and I hope you will too.
Source: robertreich.org