On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge John Bates issued an obscure ruling to save the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program because the President Trump administration’s claim the President Barack Obama-era policy was unlawful was “virtually unexplained.”
In other words, Bates did not feel the reasoning behind the administration’s decision to end DACA was adequate. It was acceptable for Obama to implement DACA via executive order, but now it’s apparently unacceptable for Trump to rescind it.
Bates’ decision saves DACA — for now. The ruling is not only an extremely bizarre legal decision, but it’s also an insult to Americans across the country, especially millennials. American millennials find themselves in direct competition with DACA recipients in education and the labor force, and they should be furious that the program has been allowed to continue.
Admission into higher education is arguably more competitive than it’s ever been. Think of Americans you know who have applied to college in the last few years. How many of those applications ended in rejection, even when the student was a good and well-qualified applicant? Do you honestly believe that an illegal alien should be admitted into a college or university over an equally-qualified American, whose family has likely contributed to higher education through taxes?
The college application process unfairly benefits DACA illegal aliens because of affirmative action. This idea should also disgust many Americans. Affirmative action was created for African-American descendants of slavery as well as the Jim Crow and Civil Rights eras. Affirmative action exists as a reparation for decades of oppression. It doesn’t exist for Hispanics who illegally crossed the border or overstayed their visas. Immigrants shouldn’t be allowed to come to the U.S. and then suddenly claim they are “oppressed.” Unfortunately, this is exactly what they’re doing, and institutions of higher education are complicit.
Last year, 600 college and university presidents from around the country signed a statement begging the Trump administration to keep DACA because these individuals are “exemplary student scholars and student leaders.” Additionally, these presidents added that “America needs talent,” and that DACA individuals are a “national necessity.” These college presidents failed to recognize that American students are also talented and a national necessity. By arguing on behalf of DACA students in this way, those in higher education showed exactly how they think of American students: They’re not talented enough, so it is necessary to have illegal alien students fill the void.
Illegal aliens also benefit in higher education through scholarships and in-state tuition. According a report by the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators, at least 21 states offer in-state tuition for illegal immigrants, and six other states, such as California, offer outright financial aid.
What about the millennials who choose not to attend college and instead join the workforce? Have no fear because according to open border liberals and cheap labor Republicans, illegal immigrants don’t take jobs, they create them! Some even have the audacity to claim that immigration “raises wages for everyone.” If only that were true.
While it is indisputable that some Americans and some sectors of the economy benefit from low-skilled and low-wage immigrants, the idea that “immigrants don’t typically take American jobs” and don’t harm wage growth is naive at best. At worst, it’s pro-immigrant propaganda. As famed Harvard professor George Borjas noted, “Anyone who tells you that immigration doesn’t have any negative effects doesn’t understand how it really works.”
The segment of DACA individuals who don’t go on to college, like the 21 percent of DACA recipients who are high school dropouts, will enter the labor force and directly compete with working class Americans without a college degree. According to a report from the Center for Immigration Studies, over the last two decades immigrants have replaced low-skilled natives in the workforce. Additionally, the millennial unemployment rate is double the national average. Why then does America need illegal immigrant DACA workers if the country can’t even employ its own native labor force? No DACA immigrant should have a job if there are millions of millennials looking for work.
The irony behind supporting DACA is that if you were to ask any proponent of the quasi-amnesty program if they would be satisfied with an illegal immigrant being accepted to college while their child gets rejected, they would say, “No.” They also likely wouldn’t appreciate a DACA individual receiving financial aid, or maybe even a full scholarship while their child has to pay full tuition or borrow student loans. Proponents would certainly object to an individual being hired over their child, but maybe that’s the point. It’s okay for illegal immigrants to live, study, and work in the country as long is it doesn’t affect them.
Millennials are the future of this country. How much longer will we idly stand by while our government burdens us to help illegal foreigners? In the name of “Dreamers,” our government is stifling the real American dream.
