Image 01 Image 03

DACA Tag

Immigration has come to the forefront again as the government faces another possible shutdown this week. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) has already stated she will vote no against a funding bill if it does not include language for DACA members, also known as Dreamers. Another option, though, is temporary protection after President Donald Trump's March 5 deadline passes.

A hot topic in the Legal Insurrection comment sections has been whether the insane/deranged/lunatic/vicious/malicious reaction of Democrats and the open-borders left to Trump's generous DACA/Dreamer amnesty framework was part of some three-dimensional chess play by Trump. In that scenario, Trump offered what he knew never would be accepted in order to make himself look good and his opposition unreasonable: Amnesty for 1.8 million 'Dreamers' plus immediate family reunification, in exchange for funding of border security and The Wall, and an end to extended family chain migration.

I admit to being a bit puzzled by the leftist outrage over President Trump's proposed DACA deal.  I fail to see anything "racist" about providing a pathway to citizenship for over a million illegal aliens (or in any of the other proposed provisions). House minority leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), however, seems to imagine that it's some kind of  white supremacist plot.

The framework of a proposal unveiled by the White House provides for a pathway to citizenship for 1.8 million so-called Dreamers, 25 billion for border security and The Wall, and an end of extended-family chain migration (though immediate family chain migration still permitted). You can read the full details here.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) needs to snap back into reality. Look, the Democrats do not have control of Congress and Donald Trump is our president and it looks like Schumer still isn't ready to accept the fact that he doesn't have power. Even after he failed with the government shutdown he thinks he has negotiating power when he decided to take wall funding off the table. Trump reminded "Cryin' Chuck Schumer" that in order to receive protections for DACA, a bill must have funding for a wall.

The Democrats have a huge problem on their hands as Dreamers, now young adults who've been promised the immigration world, are demanding Democrats make good on their promises. Schumer's failure to negotiate any meaningful DACA codification into the spending bill has Dreamers incensed and they're taking action.

After a bizarre and completely unfounded San Francisco federal District Court injunction against the Trump administration wind-down of DACA, the Trump administration both filed for leave to appeal in the 9th Circuit and filed a Petition for a Writ of Certiorari Before Judgment in the Supreme Court. That latter Petition would circumvent the 9th Circuit. The Trump administration, however, did not ask the Supreme Court to stay the District Court order, arguing that a stay would create more problems in the administrative wind-down of DACA:

UPDATE: A cloture vote to end debate in the Senate on the funding bill passed by the House failed. So we're heading to "shutdown" unless there is a last minute deal reached. As a reminder of how Obama weaponized the 2013 shutdown, see my post Flashback to when Obama weaponized 2013 government shutdown. 60 votes were needed, and it fell 10 short. 5 Democrats voted Yes: Donnelly, Heitkamp, Manchin, Jones, McCaskill. 4 Republicans voted No: Graham, Paul, Lee, Flake.

The government just filed a Petition for Writ of Certiorari Before Judgment (full embed at bottom of post)(pdf.) in the Supreme Court seeking pre-judgement review of the federal District Court order preventing the Trump administration from terminating DACA. That District Court decision was absurd, as pointed out when we covered the decision, Judge prevents Trump from reversing Obama DACA policy.

Dick Durbin's claim that Donald Trump referred to "s***hole" non-white countries during a closed door DACA negotiation has lit a fire. It appears to be part of a strategy from Durbin and Democrats to walk away from a DACA deal unless they get what they want (primarily amnesty without any changes in immigration practices or border enforcement), preferring to make this a racial issue. I covered this in my post, Dick Durbin blew up DACA, deliberately:

What the heck was wrong with Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Thursday? I planned to write up one set of comments, but I'm glad I didn't because another set of comments came up today that received criticism from her #2 in the House. These comments included slamming the companies that have used their savings from the tax reform bill to give raises and bonuses to their employees. Then she criticized the fact that five white guys have started to work on a DACA bill and asked if they wanted to open a hamburger stand, which Minority Steny Hoyer (D-MD) called offensive.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) has introduced a bill that would provide legal status for those in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, funds for a border wall, and immigration reforms. Goodlatte, along with Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), Raul Labrador (R-ID), and Martha McSally (R-AZ), provided details in an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal:
A priority of our legislation is to increase the security of the southern border. Our bill would provide $30 billion to build a wall, to invest in new technology, and to improve, modernize and expand ports of entry. It would add boots on the ground: an additional 5,000 Border Patrol agents and 5,000 Customs and Border Protection officers. It would provide for the construction of additional ports of entry and a full implementation of the biometric entry-exit system, while authorizing the National Guard to provide aviation and intelligence support.

Another day, another judicial intervention trying to prevent Donald Trump from exercising his lawful Executive Branch powers. Of course, that's not the verbiage the court used, but it's a fair characterization of the San Francisco federal district court decision (full embed at bottom of post)(pdf.) in a lawsuit brought by Janet Napolitano on behalf of the California Regents seeking an injunction against Trump's plans to end the DACA program.

While everyone is gushing over Oprah Winfrey, the Democrats in D.C. can hide the fact that they're holding the spending bill hostage over the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) program. Before Christmas, Congress passed a short term spending bill to keep the government running until January 19. The Democrats have made it clear they want full legalization of DACA recipients while Republicans have mentioned a wall and actual reforms to our immigration system.

The Democrats hope to push through legislation to protect those in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, but President Donald Trump made it known today that will not happen unless there is funding for a wall and changes to our immigration system.

When Donald Trump announced a phased-out end to Obama's illegal DACA program, which made an executive branch end round around the Constitution and Congress, Trump made clear he wanted Congress to pass legislation dealing with the problem.

It doesn't look like Congress is going to act on Obama's unconstitutional Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) any time soon.  Listless Congressional Democrats, pressured by their base and DACA advocates, are reportedly mulling over attaching it to a budget bill in the hopes that they can pull enough GOP support to squeeze it through. The idea is that such a move will force the hand of Republicans who want to avoid a government shutdown over DACA.  The CBO released a report last Friday that estimated DACA passage would cost American taxpayers $25.9 billion over the next decade.

President Trump has kicked Obama's unconstitutional Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) back to Congress and stated that he will extend his initial six month deadline if Congress fails to act. While there doesn't appear to be much (any?) movement on this in either the House or the Senate, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a report that legalizing Dreamers will cost U. S. taxpayers $25.9 billion over the next 10 years.