With the clock ticking, an estimated 1,500 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients and their allies are expected to descend on Washington, DC, this week for the fight of their lives. Congress has fewer than five days left on the 2017 legislative calendar to pass a bill protecting undocumented immigrant youth, and as immigrant rights leaders have advocated, attaching the DREAM Act onto the must-pass spending bill represents its best chance to get it passed:
Even though Republican leaders like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) say they want to help these immigrants, known as Dreamers, they say they don’t want to attach a fix to the spending bill. They’ll take care of the problem later―they promise.
But when it comes to immigration reform in Congress, “later” often means “never,” immigration advocates say. They would know: This has all happened before.
For Dreamers, their allies say, it’s now―or, most likely, never.
“From our point of view,” said Frank Sharry, president of the pro-reform group America’s Voice and a longtime immigration advocate, “it’s the 22nd or bust.”
Back in 2013, former Speaker John Boehner refused to take up comprehensive immigration reform legislation, instead punting the job to the Senate, then led by Democrats. After the upper chamber passed a historic bill by a sweeping, bipartisan 68-32, Boehner again refused to bring it to a vote, even though it could have passed. With Ryan so far showing himself to be less tan but equally as spineless as Boehner, advocates have no reason to believe he’ll act on anything by March and are pressing for action now.
“Congress has the votes to pass a legislative solution that address the lives and futures of these aspiring Americans right now,” said Juan Escalante, a DACA recipient and longtime immigrant rights leader. “Any delay in passing Dreamer legislation could result in a blame game among politicians, resulting in the deportation of some of the best and brightest individuals that call this country their home. We need Democrats to hold the line and Republicans to show leadership on this issue.”
Delay not only means inaction, it means deportation. An estimated 12,000 DACA recipients have already lost their protections since Donald Trump announced the end of the program, and every day that Congress delays, another 122 fall out of status. The fact is that if legislators vote on a spending package that does not include the DREAM Act, they’ll be voting for Trump’s immoral, mass deportation force and the deportation of young people who are American in every way but on paper.
“More than 80 percent of the public, including two-thirds of Republicans, back legal status for Dreamers and efforts to keep them here in America,” notes America’s Voice. “A solid majority of members of Congress in both chambers would vote for a Dreamer solution if given the chance. And Dreamers are under threat and need Congress to act right now—as the examples of young people like Osman Enriquez and Brittany Aguilera demonstrate in dramatic fashion”:
Immigration reform advocates do have some reasons to hope this time will be different.
Dreamers have dramatically improved their visibility since the Dream Act last failed in the Senate in 2010, and now have backing from major companies, faith leaders, labor groups, universities and more. A Fox News poll in September found that 83 percent of Americans believe Dreamers should be able to gain legal status, including 63 percent of Trump voters.
Not all Democrats have vowed to vote against government funding without Dreamer protections, but there is near unanimous support in the party for the Dream Act. On the GOP side, 34 House Republicans have called for Ryan to bring up a bill by the end of the year, and one, Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.), even said he wouldn’t vote for government funding without Dreamer protections.
There’s one more crucial difference the current Dreamer legislation has over the 2013 comprehensive immigration reform bill, and it’s one that might put particular pressure on a president in a constant search for positive headlines: There’s going to be a clear effect if this effort fails.
DACA was still in effect when the 2013 process collapsed. But this time around, failure would put hundreds of thousands of young people who grew up in the U.S. at risk of soon being forced out.
Will it be enough to force Republicans to act?
“As a hundred Dreamers a day lose their DACA status, a number expected to balloon in a matter of weeks, Congress must resolve this crisis immediately by including a solution with the must-pass spending bills before Congress,” said Sharry. “If not, a vote to fund deportations without a solution for Dreamers will go down in history as a one of America’s darkest chapters.“ Escalante: “The clock is ticking for hundreds of thousands of immigrant youth, who depend on their DACA status to work, drive, and contribute back to their states and community.”