Despite the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)’s announcement last Thursday that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program would continue, the mainstream media has spent the last week stoking fear and anxiety in the Latino community.
From the New York Times to the Los Angeles Times, every major news outlet expressed the same disappointment: Trump’s action does nothing in the long-term, and gives no hope to those who are currently protected by DACA (aka “Dreamers”).
There’s no doubt that this action was a short-term solution, but so was the Obama administration’s initiation of DACA five years ago. The program is a band-aid — plain and simple — and was never meant to be a substitution for immigration reform. Interestingly enough, the mainstream media wasn’t complaining when Obama started the program, so why are they lamenting Trump’s temporary extension of it?
The mainstream media is actively trying to pit the Latino community against President Trump by painting him as cruel and insensitive on this issue. In reality, he has shown more compassion toward this group than his predecessor by seeking a more sustainable solution.
The president has made his agenda clear throughout the past five months, and deporting the roughly 750,000 enrolled Dreamers is not a priority for him. Trump may be a hardliner on immigration, but his administration’s focus has consistently been on the bad hombres — killers, drug dealers and other criminals.
In fact, he has shown a particular soft spot for Dreamers. In February, he told reporters that DACA was “one of the most difficult subjects,” and that his administration would “deal with DACA with a lot of heart.”
This sentiment hasn’t changed. “There has been no final determination made about the DACA program, which the president has stressed needs to be handled with compassion and with heart,” said Jonathan Hoffman, the assistant secretary for public affairs at the DHS.
It’s also no coincidence that approvals of DACA applications more than tripled to 125,000 year-over-year between January and March.
Although Trump vowed to “immediately terminate” DACA during his campaign, his tone has shifted, and it appears that he is buying some time for Congress to develop a more constitutional alternative to this blatantly unconstitutional program. As Secretary of Homeland Security John F. Kelly has indicated, Congress is the only body that can offer a long-term solution to this issue.
Unfortunately, Congress has kicked the can on common-sense immigration reform for decades, mostly due to the fact that congressional Democrats and establishment Republicans have balked at one preliminary condition: securing the border. Without this component, immigration dialogues will always fall apart.
President Trump firmly believes in the Constitution and would completely alienate his constituency if he broke his commitment to this principle. He already risks losing support from his base by preserving DACA in the short-term, but was left in a very challenging position due to the previous administration’s lack of foresight.
Trump has brilliantly placed this issue back in the hands of Congress, where it belongs. While this might not give Dreamers the peace of mind they hoped for, it is their only hope for a permanent affirmation of their status.
