Immigration reform

DACA: Trump Upholds the Law and Fails the Spirit of America

/ Joe Broadmeadow / Leave a comment

President Trump’s decision to rescind support for DACA correctly recognizes immigration reform as a responsibility of Congress. Congress enacts laws, the President Trumpenforces those laws, and the Courts ensure the laws meet constitutional standards.

As much as I may disagree with the spirit of the decision, the President, no matter if I support or object to his politics, is not empowered to alter either the Constitution or the law.

If President Trump decided he would no longer enforce equal rights, we would berate him.

If President Trump decided he would no longer enforce fair labor law, we would chastise him.

If President Trump unilaterally decided he would not enforce any of the laws of the country to which he is charged with upholding, we would excoriate him.

Conversely, we should not expect or accept a President who creates or changes laws without Congressional action. What President Obama did with DACA was a temporary measure to address an injustice. Congress failed to act. Our focus should be on Congress to fix this.

While I agree DACA needs revision, Trump’s decision is political pandering at its worst. Even he recognizes the inertia paralyzing Congress. Thus, he can throw it back in their court and at the same time appease the significant number of bigoted jingoists that support him. He has about as much sympathy for Dreamers as he had for any tenants he foreclosed on in his real estate empire.

If the President harbors genuine sympathy for Dreamers, he would summon the leaders of Congress together and formulate a plan to make DACA irrelevant. He would help foster a change in immigration law that recognizes the travesty of visiting the crimes of the parents on innocent children.

Despite claims to the contrary by the simpletons who embrace these lies, Mohammed the neurologist is not trying to take Billy Bob’s job at Seven-Eleven.

Dream on that this Congress, or President, will ever put the needy before their own political survival.

Welcome to America (here are the rules)

/ Joe Broadmeadow / Leave a comment

As shocking as this may be, I am not a Trump fan. But this post goes to show how, if you look hard enough, you can find commonalities where you least expect them.

The debate over ICEhow, or even if, we should deal with illegal immigrants seems academic. Call them what you will-undocumented, illegal, or otherwise-they are breaking the law.

Mr. Trump’s focus may be inarticulate and mean-spirited, but it is not wrong.

Now nothing is ever black and white. Individual circumstances call for careful consideration.  An eighteen-year-old high school graduate heading off to college, but here illegally because of her parents’ choice to break the law, should not be unilaterally tossed out.

I have no sympathy if this same graduate’s parents have been here for fifteen years, yet made no effort to become citizens.

What sparked this is an interview I read of a twenty-five or thirty-year-old woman, brought her illegally as an infant who said she wants to stay here to support her family in her homeland, but does not want to become a citizen.

Whoa, there Nelly. That’s not how America works.

This country guarantees opportunity, not success. We offer a pathway to citizenship, not a shortcut to enjoying the benefits without taking part. It’s like saying I want to play for a World Championship baseball team (let’s use the New York Yankees as a neutral example) but not go to practice or be in the game. I just want the salary.

If the problem with the law is it prevents one from applying for citizenship because of how you came here, we can work with that.

How about this as a compromise?  Regardless of how you got here, everyone can apply for citizenship. If you have no criminal record, we’ll overlook your entry in exchange for your making the effort at joining the team as a fully participating member.

We’ll issue you a provisional driver’s license good for five years. At the end of five years, if you’ve did not achieve citizenship, then out you go.  If within the five years, you achieve citizenship we’ll extend the license and classify you as a provisional citizen for another five years.

Maintain the peace, obey the laws, pay your taxes, take part in our society and at the end of the five-year period, your citizenship becomes irrevocable.

The only way to do this is to put teeth into enforcing immigration laws, tie federal aid to cities and towns to ensure their cooperation (including accepting the amnesty of the five-year grace period for reaching citizenship), severely penalize companies that hire individuals not taking part in the path to citizenship program, and tighten the borders.

The solution to strengthen the borders is to listen to the ICE officers who’ve been dealing with the issue for decades, not some idiotic unworkable campaign promise.

Even amid diametrically opposed philosophies, compromise through rational discussion is possible. The ingenuity, determination, and courage of what many illegal immigrants go through to get here may be an untapped resource. An opportunity not to be squandered.

As Americans, we offer an opportunity to enjoy our freedom but expect you to bear the same burden to ensure it survives.

Undocumented: A Kinder, Gentler Illegal

/ Joe Broadmeadow / 4 Comments

Shakespeare said, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” So, one can say undocumented yet it is still illegal. We are a country of laws. Laws that need apply to everyone equally.

If it makes you feel better, call those millions of immigrants undocumented. It won’t alter the fact that they are here in violation of the law.

The question is how to best deal with it.

Although solid numbers are difficult to derive, research indicates a significant number of “undocumented” aliens who are eligible to apply for citizenship do not. The various reasons cited are an inability to speak English, cost (around $680) or just a choice not to bother. (Pew Research Foundation)

I must be missing something.

There are any number of opportunities to learn English. If living in fear of deportation is not a motivation what is? Perhaps we are doing a disservice by having multi-language signs.  If everything was in English, it might motivate people.

And while I realize $680 may seem a fortune to minimum wage workers, it is also something one can save given the same potential for deportation. Offering some sort of discount might be less expensive than building a wall.

I empathize with the so-called “dreamers,” brought here as children and living in the quasi-world of raised in America without the benefit of citizenship. But what have they done about changing their status? That begs the question, why should we help you if you’re not willing to help yourself?

So, perhaps this should be the test. What efforts have you made? Have you tried to learn English? Thrown change in a jar to save for the cost? Made any effort to become a citizen?

If the answer is no, I have no sympathy. It may seem unfair, looking at how many American citizens by birth underappreciate this country. It may seem frustrating that natural born citizens show no interest in being good Americans. But life is not fair. While one cannot choose their citizenship at birth, this country does offer a path.

That path may be hard. It may be steep. It may be long. But there is an attainable goal if you want it bad enough.

To expect us to carry you up the path, or pave it, or shorten it is not fair to all those who have conquered that path before you.

If you want to be a citizen, to contribute to the country, to participate in the great experiment of the people, by the people, and for the people, great.

Show us your willingness to earn it.

If you expect us to simply legislate you in because you want to be here, that is not going to happen.

Wanting to live in this country, with all its opportunities, comes at a price. The price is a willingness to try. Taking those first steps down that path to show us your sincerity is a great start.