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There’s no shortage of confusion as the lives of 800,000 young immigrants and their families hang in the balance. There’s a deal on DACA! Not so fast. But, maybe yes? Er … what the fuck is happening? After his early morning tweetstorm asking if “anybody really wants to throw out good, educated and accomplished young people” out of the country (um, you do?), a Florida-bound Donald Trump then told the press pool that he and Democrats are indeed “working on a plan for DACA”:
"People want to see that happen," Trump said, referring to a legislative solution for the Dreamers. "You have 800,000 young people, brought here, no fault of their own. So we're working on a plan, we'll see how it works out. We're going to get massive border security as part of that. And I think something can happen, we'll see what happens, but something will happen," he said.
Responding to a shouted question on whether he favors "amnesty," Trump shouted back: "The word is DACA."
But then once on the ground, Trump appeared to rule out citizenship for undocumented youth and brought up that fucking wall that Mexico is supposed to pay for. Chaos, back on the menu.
“Very important is the wall. We have to be sure the wall isn’t obstructed. Very important is the wall. We have to be sure the wall isn’t obstructed because without the wall I wouldn’t do anything. … It doesn’t have to be here but they can’t obstruct the wall if it’s in a budget or anything else.”
“We’re not looking at citizenship. We’re not looking at amnesty. We’re looking at allowing people to stay here. … I just spoke with Paul Ryan, everybody’s on board. … We’re talking about taking care of people, people who were brought here, people who’ve done a good job.”
“We’ll only do it if we get extreme security, not only surveillance but everything that goes with surveillance. If there’s not a wall, we’re doing nothing.”
On the wall, Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi released a statement basically telling him to kick rocks, but regarding citizenship, Pelosi used her morning press conference to reiterate that any deal between Democrats and Trump "must include the bipartisan DREAM Act,” which will put immigrant youth on a path to citizenship.
In the midst of Trump’s disarray, undocumented immigrant youth are expressing concern about any deal that ties in ramped-up enforcement that will directly impact immigrant families. “Why we demand a clean Dream,” said Adrian Reynas, a leader with United We Dream. “Because we need to. For our parents. For our border communities.”
We already know that Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, Stephen Miller, and Trump’s die-hard base will do anything to burn any DACA deal to the ground—Ann Coulter is already talking impeachment—but as America’s Voice noted earlier today, even 70 percent of Republican voters overall believe immigrant youth should be put on a path to legal status or citizenship.
“Anti-immigrant extremists don’t like it and won’t admit it,” said Lynn Tramonte of America’s Voice, “but passing the Dream Act is the mainstream position in American politics today. It’s really not controversial to allow young people who grew up in America to stay and keep building their lives here. If Congress accomplishes this, Republicans and Democrats alike will be praised for enacting a reasonable solution to an important national issue.”
“If it looks as though such a deal has a real chance,” Greg Sargent wrote today, “look for the hard-liners to try to kill the deal with poison pills”:
People who are knowledgeable about this issue expect them to tell Trump that his base is in revolt, and that if he must protect the dreamers, he has to throw his base a few added measures, such as a requirement that employers use E-Verify screening to determine whether workers are undocumented, and money to expand Trump’s deportation force. Immigration advocates can accept E-Verify, if it is packaged with legalization of most undocumented immigrants, but without that, it would render many of them unable to support themselves, leading them to self-deport (the whole point).
Democrats would not be able to accept a deal that would mean substantially more deportations and self-deportations, which is why the right would insist on such measures. To summarize: There is probably a deal in trading increased border security (without a wall) for protection for the dreamers, but not one that trades increased interior enforcement for it.
Derailing is what Mitch McConnell appears to be doing, in his mention of “interior enforcement”:
And when it comes to ramped up border security and that fucking wall that Mexico will never pay for, an important note to remember from Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum:
Immigrant youth continue to advocate for a clean DREAM Act that will not come at the expense of their families. According to Sanaa Abrar of United We Dream, “one in five Dreamers live in the border region. More enforcement affects DACA-mented youth and border communities.” United We Dream:
“Today our drive to pass a clean Dream Act remains steady.
“When Donald Trump killed DACA and put our lives at risk, immigrant youth refused to sit back and take the abuse. Our leaders went to Congress and demanded they pass a clean Dream Act without dangerous add-ons to hurt our families - including those living in border communities.
The momentum for a clean Dream Act is growing and immigrant youth are on Capitol Hill today pushing for it.
“We call on both Republicans and Democrats to ditch the idea that one group of immigrants must endure more pain in order to provide another group with the freedom they deserve. The immigrant youth whose lives are at stake say YES to a clean Dream Act and NO to more pain.
“The tweets and news stories since Trump killed DACA have been changed each day. Yet the steady call for justice from immigrant youth, faith leaders and people of conscience for a clean Dream Act grows more powerful every day. We are fighting because this is our home and we are #HereToStay.”
Conservative columnist Jennifer Rubin: “Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) could put a DACA fix on the floors of their respective houses and pass it today.”