Rant #1,977: Here, There and Everywhere

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program was set up by the Obama Administration in June 2012 to take care of the large number of children who arrived here illegally with their parents. This temporary program amounted to giving qualifying minors in such a situation stays on being sent away from this country to where they had come from, with two-year renewals from deportation.

"Dreamers," as they are sometimes known, totaled about 800,000, and while being part of DACA did not give these kids a clear road to citizenship--they were still here illegally--it pretty much put a Band Aid on the problem of what to do with these innocent kids, who were felons because, quite frankly, their parents were.

Well, President Trump, as promised, has curtailed the program--it was not law, it was a temporary program--and dumped it into Congress' hands, saying he wants THEM to resolve this problem.

And yes, it is a problem, a big one.

Many of the people who are part of the program were too young to understand their circumstances when they came here, but over the past five years, you would think that they would know that this was a TEMPORARY stopgap for them.

Heck, it includes the term "deferred action" in its very name. That means action is coming--and now it has.

This program was not a total slam dunk for the Obama Administration. People forget that President Obama tried to expand the program to include other illegals, but many states blocked such an expansion.

Anyway, the question now is this: what to do with the 800,000 people who came here illegally because their parents came here illegally?

And the next question is this: Do you penalize them because of their parents' indiscretions?

People are knocking President Trump for curtailing the program, but again, this program was not a permanent one. Basically, the Obama Administration "begged the question" about what to do with these illegals by setting up such a program, never directly addressing what to do with them on a more permanent basis, and putting a "not right now" label on their situations with the program.

Some people are making this into a nonsensical anti-immigrant and anti-Latino stance by the President, but it is not that--in fact, by putting the problem in Congress' hands, he is actually extending participants' time in this country, because they cannot be dealt with until legislators come up with a plan, within a six-month time period.

He could have easily started deportation proceedings against each and every program participant, but he chose not to.

In my opinion, here is what should be done with these kids, innocent bystanders due to their parents unwillingness to follow the law of the land.

The 800,000 participants should be given a further amnesty, maybe of up to a year, to work out their situations and either take the path to citizenship or decide that they don't want that and leave the country.

If during that 12-month period these participants prove to the federal government that they have put in for citizenship, they can stay in our country, and once they become citizens, that is pretty much the end of that, and we, as a country, welcome them into our rolls.

If some decide that they would rather not take that path, the year they have been given will allow them ample time to make other arrangements.

And for those who do nothing, well, they simply have to go, like any other undocumented alien.

I know that this is a relatively simple solution to a complex problem, but I do think that it is the fairest way to handle this, understanding that these one-time kids, many of whom are young adults now, came here not of their own direction but that of their parents, who refused to follow the rules.

It gives them time to set their priorities. Many of these people have not really known any other country than the U.S., so why not give them a chance to become citizens of our country?

I have read story after story about the program's participants, and how their lives have been thrown into a frenzy by the end of the program.

First off, did they not know that this was a temporary program?

Evidently not, or at least for some, evidently not.

I read one story of a kid who came here with his parents from Venezuela. He is a fine student, a leader in his school, and he hopes to go to a prestigious college when he graduates.

He has many friends, and like his peers, he applied for his driver's license when he came of age.

He noted that he was "shocked" when he was denied this privilege.

Why was he shocked? Being in DACA does not change participants' status; they are still looked under the law as illegal aliens. Unless undocumented aliens obtain social security numbers and other information illegally, no, they cannot possess a driver's license.

For someone so smart, this guy appeared to be, well, someone so ignorant of the tenets of DACA.

He was, and still is, an illegal alien in our country, and it is only through the good graces of this nation that he is still here.

And by the way, he is a Venezuelan Jew, not your stereotypical illegal alien, or at least the stereotypical illegal alien the media has designed for all of us.

Getting back to a simple solution to a complex problem, even if what I said was implemented, there are those who will fall through the cracks.

But at least it will acknowledge the nature of why these people are here in the first place--through no fault of their own--while giving them time to get their acts in order.

I hope Congress comes to an at least similar conclusion when it makes its decision about what to do with these people, and hopefully, they will do this quickly.

The President did nothing wrong in ending DACA, and his gesture of allowing Congress to decide what to do with these people--new laws would have to be written and passed by them--really is a humanitarian gesture, although many, wrongly, do not look at it that way.

Well, Congress, the ball is in your court.

Let's get this thing done.

Speak to you again on Monday. Have a great weekend.