Dreams deferred

At the end of President George W. Bush’s second term, he proudly signed into law the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act. The law, pushed by Evangelical groups to combat sex trafficking, gave substantial protections to children entering the country alone who were not from Mexico or Canada by prohibiting them from being quickly sent back to their country of origin. It required that children be given an opportunity to appear at an immigration hearing and recommended they have counsel. It required that they be turned over to the care of the Department of Health and Human Services, and be placed “in the least restrictive setting that is in the best interest of the child” or be reunited with family members, while waiting for their hearing.

Cut to July 2014, and the sky is falling: child migrant crisis, humanitarian crisis, refugee crisis, border security crisis! Our elected politicians leaped to fix blame and pontificate sound bites: “it’s an exploitation of our laws,” “overhaul the Wilberforce Act,” “deploy the National Guard.”

Republicans cited President Obama’s 2012 Deferred Action for Children Arrivals (DACA) program as a key enticement for illegal migrants seeking to make their way north to the U.S.

DACA allows young undocumented immigrants, called Dreamers, to stay and work legally (and pay taxes) for two years or more if they meet a number or requirements: entered the U.S. before the age of 16 before June 15, 2007, currently in school or graduated from high school, or honorably discharged from the Armed Forces of the U.S., and they cannot have been convicted of a felony or significant misdemeanor(s). The 57,000 unaccompanied minors who have recently crossed the border illegally are NOT eligible for DACA.

The facts on the border are that the kids coming to the US are under the impression that once they arrive here they’ll receive a “permiso” or permit, a notice to appear in immigration court, which, because of the backlog, can take years. (Factoid: The Justice Department recently reported that 46 percent of juveniles never show up for their immigration hearings.)

Senator Ted Cruz: “This explosion is the direct consequence of the president’s lawlessness. The only response that will stop this humanitarian disaster is for President Obama to start enforcing the law.”

If Cruz is accusing Obama of not following the Wilberforce Act, he is off the mark. Not only is Obama enforcing the Wilberforce Act, but he’s requested $3.7 billion to address the crisis, which includes funding for 40 new judges to expedite immigration hearings.

Before responding to the border crisis, House Republicans voted on Wednesday, July 30 to sue the president for acting unilaterally by delaying a provision of the Affordable Care Act. After passage of the bill, House Speaker John Boehner announced, “No more unilateral action by the president. If the president takes these actions, he’ll be sealing the deal on his legacy of lawlessness.”

Thursday, July 31, after failing to pass a border security bill, Speaker Boehner and other House Republicans in a press statement indicated that President Obama should address the border crisis unilaterally: “There are numerous steps the president can and should be taking right now, without the need for congressional actions, to secure our borders and ensure these children are returned swiftly and safely to their countries.”

Sued on Wednesday, accused of not “acting unilaterally” on Thursday!

Friday, August 1, hours before starting a five week recess, House Republicans passed two immigration bills. The funding bill provides $659 million (adjusted to $694 million): $334 million for Immigration and Customs enforcement for processing and deportation, $22 million allocated to accelerate judicial proceedings, $197 million to provide temporary housing and assistance, $35 million to reimburse governors for deploying their National Guards (Factoid: Most kids coming across the border are looking for border agencies in order to turn themselves in, permiso!), and $71 million to U.S. Customs and Border Protection for additional deportation. The bill would also tweak the 2008 Wilberforce Act to make it easier to deport Central American immigrant children to their home countries.

The second bill passed by the Republican controlled House would strip protections from 550,000 Dreamers who came to the U.S. before 2007. The measure would also prohibit those who have already been given a reprieve from deportation from renewing their status when it expires in 2015. The bill would further block the Obama administration from expending any funds for DACA and prohibit any new deferred deportation programs.

Needless to say, there is no compelling reason to believe rescinding DACA will stem the border crisis. (Factoid: The Senate recessed two days earlier, so the House bills can’t be acted on until September. It is also unlikely that either bill will be taken up by the Democratic controlled Senate. President Obama has also vowed to veto them.)

Leaving Congress for a five week summer recess, Mono County’s Rep. Paul Cook championed the House’s feckless accomplishment: “This border crisis is one of the most serious national security issues facing America, and it’s a dereliction of duty that the Senate has gone on vacation without address the border. The Senate needs to follow the House’s example, get back to work, and pass these vital bills.”

Author sidebar: As a retired high school teacher, I’m aware of forty plus ex-students of mine who are Dreamers. So I wonder, what happens to Mammoth’s Dreamers when their dreams and hopes are deferred? Do their dreams dry up, like raisins in the sun? Or fester like open sores? Or stink like rotten meat? Maybe their dreams just sag like a heavy load or they implode?