Earlier this month, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing about the deferred action for childhood arrivals (DACAs) program that then-President Barack Obama unilaterally created in 2012, and that President Donald Trump canceled last month.
I was in the packed house audience, and was not surprised at the deep divide between Republicans and Democrats on what should come next for the 800,000 work-authorized DACA recipients.
After Sept. 5, no new DACA applications were accepted, and renewal applications for participants whose benefits expire before March 5, 2018, were adjudicated on a case-by-case basis until the Oct. 5, 2017, final cutoff date.
Trump told Congress that it has six months to reach a legislative solution, but based on the Judiciary Committee’s divisive tone, consensus appears out of reach.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the committee chairman, said in his opening and closing remarks that DACA amnesty, the Democrats’ goal, wouldn’t be considered without substantial enforcement provisions included.
But including enforcement in DACA legislation is, according to Democrats, a nonstarter. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., a committee member, said attaching an enforcement laundry list to DACA won’t cut it.
When the hearing adjourned, the two sides were stuck between the proverbial rock and a hard place.
In their comments, Democrats referenced DACA superstars of which, in an 800,000-strong sampling, many can be found. One of the witnesses was a DACA medical student with impressive academic credentials.
But because the Obama administration implemented the program carelessly — few face-to-face interviews, superficial background checks and low eligibility standards — many DACAs have less impressive résumés.
Among the most important and surprising revelations that came to light is that, according to Harvard University research and based on federal government data, most DACA recipients are between the ages of 20 and 36.
About 40 percent of DACAs, 320,000, are either high school dropouts or have no education beyond the 12th grade.
Because they lack advanced degrees, the 320,000 DACAs compete with or displace America’s most vulnerable workers in the low-wage labor market sector: more than 4 million unemployed Americans in the DACA-age range are unemployed; nearly half of the unemployed are black or Hispanic.
Nevertheless, the collective sentiment among skeptical DACA witnesses was that an amnesty might be acceptable but conditional on a major caveat — tangible enforcement must be put into effect now, not years later, and protection against future amnesties must be written into any compromise.
Students of immigration history know that one amnesty begets another, and spawns more illegal immigration. Grassley is right to demand enforcement. Here’s some of what he wants: mandatory E-Verify to help American workers, an entry-exit visa system which ensures that U.S. visitors leave on their designated departure dates, and vigorous internal enforcement to find and remove overstays.
When Grassley gaveled the hearing to a close, the two sides were stalemated, stuck between the proverbial rock and a hard place. A congressional solution is unlikely.
A DACA decision will likely revert back to Trump. Should he repeat his predecessor’s mistake, and issue an executive order to protect DACAs, he’ll put the Republican congressional majority at risk in 2018 and his 2020 future in deep doubt.
— Joe Guzzardi is a senior writing fellow for Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS) who now lives in Pittsburgh. He can be reached at joeguzzardi@capsweb.org, or follow him on Twitter: @joeguzzardi19. Click here to read previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.