DACA Decision: The Aftermath - Cam Reacts

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G’Day Mates! Cameron Levengood here, even though it’s been about a month since the initial announcement, and about a year after the election of President Trump, it seems that our little country, the United States, is still having some problems. Political polarization still runs rampant, and we still have to put up with laws and regulations from the national government: so, business as usual. However, the aftermath of the DACA decision, an immigration reforming legislation that got lot of attention around the beginning of September, is still occurring. Because we’re still all debating about it, I feel that it’s only right I bring it up on this blog, so, here we go! This is my brief on the DACA decision.

Background

Although it has been about four weeks since the initial announcement, the much criticised “DACA decision”, initially proposed by President Trump in the US, and currently pending approval, is still very much a place for hot debate. Because of the political polarization in this country, the meaningful immigration reform made by former President Obama, is now in jeopardy of repeal. The “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals” would allow for “dreamers”, immigrant children who were born in the country or shortly before their entrance, the opportunity to get permanent residency in the States. Because it is so hard to introduce and pass any legislation in this country related to immigration, largely due to the fact that congress is currently almost evenly divided down the center, this act was one of the only meaningful changes to our immigration code in decades that actually made it into law. However, this repeal could undo all the good it attempts it is trying to do. This could set us back by years in our foreign policy.

My Opinion

I feel that the repeal of the DACA decision is a really stupid idea, and ultimately unnecessary, because kicking out “dreamers”, who have lived in this nation for their whole lives, take maybe one or two years, and have likely committed no crimes which would warrant their deportation, is borderline unconstitutional. These people were subject to the many human conditions which we all are subject to: not getting to choose where you are born, who your parents are, or what you look like, and denying people the chance to prove themselves in the land of opportunity for the chance that they “could be” terrorists or criminals, is very un-American. I believe that is is borderline unconstitutional, which heavily implies that people should not have to fear the threat of being removed from their homes, and which means that all people in the country should have the freedom from expulsion from said home, and the freedom to live in the nation they were born into, regardless of where they came from. In the preamble of the constitution, it is made explicitly clear that the fathers planned to “secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity”, so repealing DACA is practically a slap in the face to people who were immigrants themselves.

Other Opinions

Like you would imagine with any major political decision in this country: we are extremely divided. Using the website debate.org as a general guide to the public, it would seem that about ⅔ of people are firmly against the decision. That sounds good if you also don’t like it, such as myself, but keep in mind that a still strong faction, the other ⅓ are against it, and want DACA repealed. It’s also important to keep in mind that only six people on debate.org responded to this issue: you can make of that what you will.
A good comment I read summarizing the approval of DACA comes from this user:
“I don't think punishing people who were kids when their parents brought them here is the way to deal with the issue. Abolishing DACA does nothing positive for anyone involved in the debate. We need to have DACA extended and make sure the young people who are in the program are given a path to citizenship. Throwing these kids out with no place to go is more than wrong. It's evil. Many of them can't speak the language of the country they were born in. They know nothing about the country they were born in. This is a dangerous and wrong headed way to deal with this issue.”
On the other side, a good dissenting opinion I found on the issue goes like this:
“There are many people all over the world who would like to come here and can't. We can't take in everyone. Why should the ones who come illegally be allowed to stay? They should go back to their country and get in line and do what needs to be done to get here. That's what my great-great grandparents did.”
Regardless of your personal beliefs, it is important to recognize the other opinions of both your ally and enemy, and it you want to understand why people disagree with you, you need to read their personal accounts, such as these.

Conclusion

So, to end on a somewhat somber note if you liked the reform, it appears that Trump will be ending DACA, and giving the congress an ultimatum, much like he tired to do with healthcare, asking them to fix it and propose a new, similar legislation to replace DACA within 6 months time. What this will mean for immigration in the long run: we’ll have to wait and see, but my only hope is that the government will continue to attempt to improve the lives of its citizens, and reward those who do their best to help out their fellow man.

Hey, thanks for reading! If you liked what I had to say, want to see more, or want to let me know what you think, please give me a like, comment down below, or follow me on social media (links at top of webpage). If you want to comment on your own opinion of DACA, and want to add it to the article, please email me at camlevengood@gmail.com. 

Once again, thanks for reading: don’t touch that dial

Further Reading: CNN, NY Times, Debate.org