Someone at CNN apparently cares what former U.S. Senator (PA) Rick Santorum thinks (using the word advisedly), because he was on Van Jones’s The Messy Truth Tuesday. Joining Santorum was Mexican-born Elizabeth Vilchis, who was brought to the U.S. when she was seven. By all accounts, Ms. Vilchis has had a rewarding, successful career, one that has touched the lives of many other people:
Vilchis said after learning at a young age about a shortfall in people pursuing STEM career paths, she “decided to be part of the solution,” first earning a degree in mechanical engineering then spending almost a decade encouraging other students to enter the field.
That’s a story we hear a lot here in Arizona — children brought to America when they were young, who grew up knowing this language and culture, who worked hard and excelled in school, who led successful careers that contributed to the economy and community, some even serving in the U.S. military.
Now, however, because Trump hinted that he will overturn Obama’s 2012 executive order that protects DREAMERs, and because his AG nominee Jeff Sessions is a staunch opponent of Obama’s policy, Elizabeth Vilchis and nearly 740,000 others like her are in danger of being deported to a country where they have no family, no history, no connection:
“I stand to lose all the work that I’ve done if the administration decides to end DACA,” Vilchis said, referring to the immigration policy Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals which permits undocumented immigrants who entered into the country as minors to receive deferred action against deportation.
Rick Santorum, whose own father came to this country when he was seven, is just fine with deporting Elizabeth and other DREAMERs because they can take their talents elsewhere:
“My final point is that you have the ability to go to any other country right now and apply those wares, and be successful, and reapply to come back to America,” Santorum added.
What an ugly man. CNN host Ana Navarro defended Vilchis and Obama’s executive order, saying, “No matter what he says, no matter what anybody else says, this is your country.” The Twitter universe erupted too, with many viewers suggesting we deport Santorum and keep Elizabeth Vilchis.
We have a winner. Happily, Arizona’s universities and public schools have said they will protect DREAMERs to the extent possible. Showdown with the feds—they are coming: immigration, pot, land, energy, civil rights, on and on.