Most Favor A Path To Citizenship For DACA Dreamers

The chart reflects the results of the Politico / Morning Consult Poll -- done between July 16th and 18th of a national sample of 1,997 registered voters, with a 2 point margin of error.

Americans Support Biden's View Of Immigration Reform

The charts above reflect the results of the recent Data for Progress / Vox Poll -- done between January 29th and February 1st of a national sample of 1,124 voters, with a 2.9 point margin of error.

As you can see, most support the reasonable immigration policies of President Biden.

Supreme Court Supports DACA Program (For Now)

During his administration, President Obama signed an executive order that would allow "Dreamers" (those brought to the U.S. as young children and grew up here) to stay in this country. The program he created was called DACA -- and if these young Americans had served in the military or gotten an education, and stayed out of legal trouble, then they could qualify. It was a good program, and is supported by a majority of Americans.

But Donald Trump doesn't like the program, and to appeal to his xenophobic and racist base, he signed an order that would end the DACA program and deport these young people (even though most of them have only known this country).

Trump's order was stopped by a U.S. District Judge. Trump then appealed that all the way up to the Supreme Court -- where he thought the new conservative majority would support him and let him deport the Dreamers. He was wrong!

On Thursday, the Supreme Court issued their decision on Trump's attempt to end DACA. In a 5 to 4 decision, they said Trump could not end DACA. Chief Justice Roberts joined four other justices (Ginsburg, Sotomayor, Breyer, Kagan) in striking down the attempt to end DACA, and wrote the decision. Four justices opposed the decision (Alito, Gorsuch, Thomas, Kavanaugh).

The decision doesn't totally protect DACA. It just ruled that Trump had tried to end it without giving good reasons for doing so, and that was a violation of the law. Roberts wrote:

We do not decide whether DACA or its rescission are sound policies. “The wisdom” of those decisions “is none of our concern.” Chenery II, 332 U. S., at 207. We address only whether the agency complied with the procedural re- quirement that it provide a reasoned explanation for its ac- tion. Here the agency failed to consider the conspicuous is- sues of whether to retain forbearance and what if anything to do about the hardship to DACA recipients. That dual failure raises doubts about whether the agency appreciated the scope of its discretion or exercised that discretion in a reasonable manner. The appropriate recourse is therefore to remand to DHS so that it may consider the problem anew.

The Trump administration could always try again to end the program by giving legitimate reasons for ending it (if such reasons exist). But it is unlikely to happen before the November election. That's because the program, while hated by Trump's base, is supported by most voters.

Trump And GOP Are Out-Of-Step With Public Over DACA

These charts reflect the results of the newest Economist / YouGov Poll -- done between November 10th and 12th of a national sample of 1,500 adults (including 1,206 registered voters). The margin of error for adults is 2.8 points, and for registered voters is 3 points.

Note that all segments of the public overwhelmingly support allowing the Dreamers (brought to this country as children and grew up here) to stay, work, and go to school in the United States. They also think the congressional Democrats agree with them.

But they do not think that Donald Trump or the congressional Republicans agree. They think they want the Dreamers deported.

Trump's attempt to overturn DACA by executive order (and deport the Dreamers) is currently before the Supreme Court. The court's decision will probably be released next June -- just before the next general election. If the court overturns DACA, that is not going to help the Republicans (or Trump) in that election.

DACA Bill Has A Slim Chance Of Passing In The House

The charts above reflect information in a new Economist / YouGov Poll -- done between May 6th and 8th of a random national sample of 1,500 adults, with a 3 point margin of error.

It shows that a clear majority of Americans supported the DACA program (which protected from deportation those brought to this country as children). They know these "Dreamers" have grown up in this country, obeyed the law, paid their taxes, and got an education or served in the U.S. military (or bot). They think it's wrong and downright mean to deport these people to a country they don't know.

The public also knows which political party agrees with them on DACA. About 60% say the congressional Democrats care about the Dreamers and wants to save DACA. But 61% say the congressional Republicans don't care, and 63% say Donald Trump doesn't care. This is just one more issue on which Republicans disagree with the majority of Americans, and one more reason to vote against them in November.

A few congressional moderate Republicans are beginning to realize that. They don't like being labeled as mean and uncaring about these immigrant Americans. And they don't want to have to defend the refusal to help the Dreamers on the campaign trail.

They have started an effort to get a discharge petition in the House of Representatives (led by Republican Rep. Jeff Denham of California). That discharge petition would force the House to debate and vote on a bill -- in this case a bill to make the DACA program legal. The petition would need a majority of representatives to sign it to be effective. That means at least 28 Republicans would have to sign it, assuming that all 193 Democrats sign. If some Democrats don't sign, then more Republicans will be needed.

Can they get enough votes on the petition? Probably. But that doesn't mean the bill would easily become law. The House Speaker (Paul Ryan, who opposes the effort) could still pull some legislative tricks to block a vote. And if the bill does pass the House, it is likely that some anti-immigrant GOP senator (like Ted Cruz) will filibuster it to death.

The odds of success are long, but at least something is being done. That's more than we have seen for quite a while.

Trump Kills DACA Deal And Tries To Blame Democrats

When Trump met at the White House with both Republicans and Democrats a few days ago, he urged them to negotiate a compromise on DACA. He told them he would sign whatever compromise they brought him. He LIED.

Just a couple of days later, several senators brought him a negotiated agreement that they thought could pass the Senate. Trump killed it. He didn't like it because it didn't give him the money for a wall on the southern border, and because it protected some immigrants from non-white countries (which he called "shithole" countries).

Now he has told the press that DACA is probably dead because Democrats don't want it, and aren't willing to negotiate a compromise. That's nonsense. For Trump, a compromise means they should knuckle under and submit to what he wants (agree to his bigoted and racist desires).

I guess he thinks the public will forget that it was him (not Democrats) that killed the DACA program with an executive order -- and it was him (not congressional Dems and GOP) that refused to accept a negotiated compromise.

Well, the public is not that stupid. They know who cares about the Dreamers, and who doesn't. Note in the chart above that 70% of the public says Trump does not care about the Dreamers (and 68% say the same of his GOP cohorts in Congress). And they believe the opposite of Democrats -- with 60% saying those congressional Democrats do care about the needs of Dreamers.

Trump can try to blame the Democrats for his own failures, but the public is not buying it.

The chart above uses information from a new Economist / YouGov Poll -- done on January 8th and 9th of a random national sample of 1,500 adults, with a margin of error of 3.3 points.

Americans Want The DACA Policy To Be Reinstated

Congress is currently arguing about whether to protect "Dreamers" by reinstating the DACA policy that protected them from being deported. These are individuals brought to this country as small children. They grew up here, do not have a criminal record, and are getting an education or serving in the U.S. military. In other words, they are exactly the kind of immigrants this country needs. And if Congress doesn't act, these 800,000 to 900,000 Americans will be subject to deportation in March (to a country they did not grow up in and do not know).

This is not just bad policy. It is stupid policy, and a clear majority of Americans know that. As the top chart shows, the public wants the DACA policy reinstated to protect these people -- by a 29 point margin. And that is the feeling regardless of gender, age, or race.

Trump wants to hold these Dreamers hostage to get his border wall. But that border wall is not supported by a majority of Americans. It is opposed by a 10 point margin. Holding the Dreamers hostage may play well to Trump xenophobic and racist base, but it is not going to win him any friends in the general population -- and if these Dreamers start getting deported, then the GOP will pay for it at the polls in November.

These charts use information in a new Economist / YouGov Poll -- done on January 8th and 9th of a random sample of 1,500 adults (including 1.327 registered voters), with a 3.3 point margin of error (2.9 points for registered voters).

Trump/GOP's Holding "Dreamers" Hostage Is Just WRONG

(This image is by Lalo Alcaraz at pocho.com.)

Donald Trump has rescinded the protection President Obama gave to "Dreamers", and if Congress doesn't act soon, they will face deportation (even though the U.S. is the only country they have known and they contribute greatly to it).

Poll after poll has shown the American people don't support deporting the Dreamers, and that includes many conservatives. But Donald Trump and the congressional Republicans are holding these young people as hostages to get political gain. That is just so wrong.

 Here is what the editorial board of the traditionally conservative Fort Worth Star-Telegram has to say about it:

Striking a deal in Washington often requires horse trading. We understand that. But when one of the bargaining chips is the lives of some 800,000 immigrants brought here as children — 120,000 in Texas — the negotiating takes on a sickening smell.

This week members of Congress and President Donald Trump are trading demands for what it will take to continue the DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, program. 

The program, started by President Obama, has provided work permits and a reprieve from deportation for some immigrants who were brought here by their parents and have never really known their birth countries.

The DACA recipients, called Dreamers, have graduated from high schools and attended colleges here. They hold respectable jobs. They serve in our military.

You can argue that their parents should be held accountable for illegally entering the United States. But it seems wrong to blame and punish young people, many who were barely out of diapers when adults decided they should grow up in the United States.

President Trump has given Congress a March 15 deadline to come up with a legal fix for the Dreamers or they’ll face deportation.

Most congressional Democrats and a fair number of Republicans want to find a solution that will allow the Dreamers to stay. The President told a bipartisan congressional delegation Tuesday if Congress can pass a plan that does that he’ll sign it. The hitch seems to be the President’s demand that border security and funding for a wall with Mexico be part of a deal.

Most everyone agrees we need a secure border. But defining what constitutes security and then paying for it has alluded Congress and previous administrations unable to adopt meaningful immigration reform. Texas has spent millions in state tax dollars on border surveillance arguing the federal government can’t seem to get the job done.

Linking these young people to a plan for border security is ridiculous. How is the border any more secure if they are deported?

It’s pretty clear that in the current negotiations what happens to the Dreamers has been thrown into a messy mix of immigration proposals, many too volatile to pass on their own. Elected officials who want a border wall, an end to the diversity visa lottery program and some other measures realize there’s an emotional value to using the Dreamers as bait.

We believe the continuation of the DACA program and the future of the Dreamers should be addressed on their own merits. Congress is playing with the lives of real people we all know. 

They aren’t just another policy and shouldn’t be held hostage by lawmakers or the President who want funding for a plan that includes a border wall.

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/opinion/editorials/article193844004.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/opinion/editorials/article193844004.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/opinion/editorials/article193844004.html#storylink=cpy

Public At Odds With Trump On Dreamers, Wall, And Abortion

President Obama issued an executive order exempting "Dreamers" (undocumented immigrants brought here as children, and who have served in the military or educated themselves, and have no criminal record) from being deported.

As part of his hateful anti-immigrant agenda, Donald Trump nullified that executive order -- putting the dreamers at risk once again of being deported (even though they were raised primarily in the U.S. and are contributing to this country). It was a shameful action, and the Democrats are now trying to pass legislation to protect the "Dreamers".

What does the American public think? Do they agree with Trump or the Democrats? A new poll shows they overwhelmingly agree with the position taken by Democrats. About 77% of the public thinks the "Dreamers" should be allowed to stay here and should be given a path to citizenship. Another 7% would let them stay w/o a path to citizenship, and only 12% wants to see them deported.

And that's not the only immigration issue the public disagrees with Trump on. About 62% oppose his desire to build a wall between the United States and Mexico, while only 36% want that wall to be built.

These charts reflect the results of a new Quinnipiac University Poll -- done between December 6th and 11th of a random national sample of 1,211 voters, with a 3.5 point margin of error.

That same poll showed the public also disagreed with Trump on the issue of abortion. About 60% say abortion should be legal in all or most cases. Only 34% wants it illegal in all or most cases.

Killing DACA Hurts Both "Dreamer" And Citizen Workers

Trump has said he wants to help American workers, but eliminating DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) does just the opposite. It actually hurts all American workers.

Consider this from the Economic Policy Institute:

The young immigrants who met the requirements and passed the necessary background checks for DACA were promised by the federal government that they would not be removed from the United States for two years at a time, as long as they kept applying to renew, kept a clean criminal record, and were either enrolled in school or graduated, or serving in the military or honorably discharged. Because of these requirements, we know that nearly all of the recipients are deeply integrated into their local American communities and labor markets.

Along with protection from removal, DACA recipients are entitled to receive an employment authorization document (EAD), allowing them to be employed in the United States legally, along with certain other benefits. More than 100 legal experts and 20 state attorneys general have recently argued that DACA is a lawful use of the executive branch’s prosecutorial discretion, and as I have written before, the granting of an EAD to deferred action recipients is clearly authorized by statute. Together this means that eliminating DACA is entirely a political decision and not a legal one. The impact of this political decision is significant: 800,000 young immigrants—many of whom have never known another country except when they were small children—will become instantly deportable and lose the ability to work legally and contribute to the United States, and will be effectively left without labor rights and employment law protections in the workplace.

To call this decision tragic is an understatement. Not only is it inhumane—after President Trump promised to treat DACA recipients with “heart”—but the evidence is clear that DACA has positively benefited the U.S. labor market. The vast majority of DACA recipients are employed, 87 percent, and on average DACA recipients saw their wages increase by 42 percent after receiving an EAD. Those gains—and the higher tax revenue to the federaland state and local governments that have accompanied it and benefited public coffers—are now in jeopardy.

President Trump has also repeatedly voiced his desire to help improve working conditions for American workers, but by ending DACA he is harming the U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents who are employed alongside DACA recipients. Once DACA recipients lose their work authorization, they will effectively be unable to complain when they are paid below the minimum wage, aren’t paid for overtime hours, or when their employer subjects them to unsafe conditions at the workplace. All immigrant workers who are unauthorized are often too afraid to speak out when employers take advantage of them, because they know their bosses can threaten them with deportation and use their immigration status to retaliate against them. The impact of this is not theoretical: research has shown that unauthorized immigrants suffer much higher rates of wage theft than U.S. citizens. The reasonable fear unauthorized workers feel keeps them docile and quiet, which in turn diminishes the bargaining power of Americans who work alongside unauthorized workers. Ending DACA and forcing these young workers out of the formal, regulated labor market, thus making them easily exploitable, will not help American workers, it will do the opposite.

Ending DACA will destroy the educational and employment prospects of 800,000 young immigrants who did nothing wrong, while at the same time hurting the wages and labor standards of American workers. If President Trump were serious about improving labor standards for working people, he would reconsider and reverse his decision.

A Big Majority Of Public Disagrees With Trump On DACA

Donald Trump has nullified Barack Obama's executive order on DACA (which kept immigrant children raised in this country from being deported -- if they served in the military or got a college education and had no criminal record). That made Trump's xenophobic and racist base very happy, but a significant majority of the American public was not happy about it.

Only 15% of registered voters want to see the "Dreamers" deported, while a whopping 58% would like to see them given a path to full citizenship. And that is the opinion of both genders, all age groups, all income groups, all racial/ethnic groups, and those living in all parts of the country (rural, suburban, and urban).

Only one group (Republicans) had less than a majority supporting citizenship. Republicans had a plurality of 46% supporting citizenship, while only 24% supporting deportation.

The chart was made from information in a new Politico / Morning Consult Poll -- done between August 31st and September 3rd of a random national sample of 1,993 registered voters, with a 2 point margin of error.

Deporting The "Dreamers" Will Hurt All Americans

(The caricature of Nobel Prize economist Paul Krugman is by DonkeyHotey.)

The following post is from the New York Times column of Paul Krugman:

Trump’s decision to kill DACA — never mind the attempt to obscure things with that meaningless delay — is, first and foremost, a moral obscenity: throwing out 800,000 young people who are Americans in every way that matters, who have done nothing wrong, basically for racial reasons. But it’s also worth noting that Jeff Sessions just tried to sell it with junk economics, claiming that the Dreamers are taking American jobs. No, they aren’t, even if we leave aside the question of who’s an American. DACA is very much a boon to the rest of the U.S. population, and killing it will make everyone worse off.

To see why, first note that whatever you think about the economics of less-educated immigrants — most of the evidence suggests that they don’t depress wages, but that’s another discussion — none of it applies to DREAMers. Their educational and behavioral profile, as Cato notes, doesn’t resemble the average immigrant, let alone the average undocumented immigrant; they look like H-1B visa holders, that is, skilled immigrants we have specifically allowed in because they help the economy.

Beyond that, DREAMers are young — which means that they help the economy in not one but two big ways, because they mitigate the economic problems caused by an aging population.

One of those problems is fiscal: as the population ages, there are fewer working-age members contributing taxes to pay for Social Security and Medicare. A cohort of relatively high-wage, highly motivated people mostly in their 20s, likely to pay lots of taxes for decades, is exactly what the doctor ordered to make that issue less severe.

Meanwhile, I’m one of those who worries about secular stagnation — persistently weak spending, making episodes in which monetary policy can’t achieve full employment even with zero interest rates much more likely. Several factors contribute to this risk, but probably the most important is demography: a sharp slowdown in the growth of the working-age population, which means less incentive to invest in structures, factories, and more. (The demographic issue is why Japan, with low fertility and great hostility to immigration, entered a zero-rate regime a decade before the rest of us.) 

And what would make secular stagnation more of a problem? Hey, let’s expel hundreds of thousands of young people from the current and future work force.

So this is a double blow to the U.S. economy; it will make everyone worse off. There is no upside whatever to this cruelty, unless you just want to have fewer people with brown skin and Hispanic surnames around. Which is, of course, what this is really all about.