The teabagger/trumpista element has assumed control of the Republican Party -- especially here in Texas. These extremist right-wingers hate immigrants, and that includes the "Dreamers" protected by the D.A.C.A. program. They don't care that these Dreamers were brought to this country as tiny children. They don't care that Dreamers grew up here, attended American schools, have no criminal record, pay taxes, and have gotten a college education or served in the U.S. military. They don't care that Dreamers contribute far more to this country than they take from it. They just want them deported.
These odious xenophobes are having their heyday right now, with one of their own in the White House. Here in Texas, one of their leaders is Attorney General Ken Paxton. He has filed suit trying to get the DACA program declared illegal (unconstitutional).
Fortunately, they don't speak for all conservatives. And that includes the traditionally conservative Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Here is what the editorial board of that newspaper had to say:
Doesn’t Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton have anything better to do with the time of state-employed lawyers and our taxpayer money than to file lawsuits that don’t benefit Texas?
We’re talking about the suit he filed last week against the federal government, demanding it end DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, that began under the Obama administration.
Most Texans say they support allowing the immigrants who came here as children to remain legally and hold down jobs. Nearly three-fifths - 59 percent of registered voters in our state - recently contacted by University of Texas-Texas Tribune pollsters, said the DACA program should be continued.
And the state’s biggest, most influential business group, the Texas Association of Business, doesn’t think the lawsuit makes sense, either.
Jeff Moseley, the CEO of the Association, said ending DACA would deplete an already thin workforce in a state where businesses often rely on immigrant workers. The TAB website notes that Texans have invested taxpayer dollars to educate these young people in our public schools and often in our colleges and universities.
“This is a workforce that has received, relative to the world, some of the best education known to mankind,” Moseley told the Star-Telegram Editorial Board. “It makes no sense to us to take this highly trained group of individuals and turn them over to other countries to join their workforces.”. . .
Paxton says the suit he filed with six other states is about the rule of law. It's about not allowing a President — in this case Barack Obama — to create laws.
Paxton’s legal argument: the establishment of DACA "sets a dangerous precedent by giving the executive branch sweeping authority to ignore the laws enacted by Congress," to suit the president's own policy preferences and ignore the will of the people.
The truth is that Paxton, like other members of the Tea Party wing of the GOP, has long taken a stand against DACA recipients having legal status.
There are plenty of other Texas Republicans who want a legislative solution that would help shield the program from continued legal challenges like Paxton’s lawsuit. Republicans in the Texas congressional delegation, including Republican Sen. John Cornyn, have been working towards one, though Trump’s plans for a wall have continued to get in the way.
This Editorial Board has argued that a solution for the Dreamers should be addressed on its own merits and not be a chip in the debate over securing the border.
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