Back in 2010, five Senate Democrats were opposed to the DREAM Act, helping to bury a bill that would have protected the children of undocumented immigrants, the children who received that protection under President Obama's DACA order. Seven years later, even the moderate, red state Democrats are with the DREAMers.
Democratic senators from states Trump won, many of whom are up for reelection next year and have expressed a willingness to work with him on issues like trade and tax reform, came out swinging against the president on Tuesday in response to his administration’s announcement that it would be ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. […]
But on Tuesday, the vast majority of the chamber’s moderate Democrats voiced full-throated opposition to Trump’s decision to end the program in six months, leaving the future of approximately 800,000 DACA recipients in limbo at best.
Montana Sen. Jon Tester, the only sitting Democrat who voted against the DREAM Act in 2010, said in a statement Tuesday that “breaking a promise to these children — who are here through no fault of their own — is not the solution,” and called for Congress to “provide a way forward for innocent kids.” Tester is up for reelection next year in a state that Trump won by more than 20 percentage points.
Asked Tuesday about his seeming change of opinion since 2010, Tester said, “I think that there’s an opportunity here to do some good work with comprehensive immigration reform. I don’t support what [Trump] did. I think it’s ill-informed, I think it rips families apart, and it’s not what this country stands for.”
Other red state Democrats up in 2018 are united as well. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) voted with Democrats in 2010 and is still there. In her blistering statement on Trump's action, she said that deporting DACA recipients "is as dumb as it is counterproductive" and pointed out that more than "90 percent of them are in school or working and many have proudly served our country in uniform." Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-IN) wasn't in the Senate in 2010, but says he supports legislation to protect these kids. "Upending existing protections for for the nearly 10,000 young people in Indiana who have been living here for most of their lives isn't the path we should take," he said.
It seems highly unlikely at this point that five Democrats would oppose the DREAM Act now. It seems highly unlikely that more than one (Sen. Joe Manchin? Will you comment on this?) would break ranks. That's probably because of a combination of the success of DACA proving these young people deserve this and watching in real time the horror of what Trump has done.