Trumps Plan for a Massive Deportation Is Cruel, Unjust, and Economic Suicide
The president has promised to deport more than 1 million children raised in the United States.
BY DOUGLAS MASSEY JANUARY 24, 2017
It is difficult to know what actions President Donald Trump will take on immigration given his contradictory statements on the issue — but it likely won’t be pretty. Shortly after the election, he said he planned immediately to deport 2 to 3 million undocumented immigrants, but on the day of his inauguration he told Illinois Sen. Richard Durbin that “we don’t want to hurt those kids,” referring to the beneficiaries of former President Barack Obama’s executive order deferring deportation for DREAMers, easily the most readily deportable group. The Republican Party platform on which Trump ran states that “the executive amnesties of 2012 and 2014 are a direct violation of federal law and usurp the powers of Congress … [and] must be immediately rescinded by a Republican president.” Although the 2014 executive order was blocked in federal court and never implemented, the 2012 order was carried out. Known by the acronym DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), it provides relief from deportation for some 1.3 million undocumented immigrants who entered the country as minors.
DACA recipients are a small subset of the total undocumented population. Consider the requirements: They entered the United States before their 16th birthday, were under the age of 31 as of June 15, 2012, physically present in the country on that date, and present also at the time of their application. Under the terms of the executive order, they are all high school graduates, GED holders, or persons honorably discharged from the U.S. Armed Forces. They have lived continuously in the United States since June 15, 2007, and none has ever been convicted of a felony or even a significant misdemeanor. At the time of their receipt of temporary legal status, all were judged to pose no threat to national security or public safety by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Like other children who grew up in the United States at the same time, DACA recipients made their way through U.S. schools, earned a high school degree or equivalent, and stayed out of trouble with the law. Their primary language is English; most are either in college or employed. The only thing that distinguishes these young people from U.S. citizens of the same age is that — for some part of their childhood — DACA recipients were undocumented, which of course constitutes a civil infraction and not a criminal offense.
Moreover, by definition all DACA recipients entered into undocumented status as a result of actions taken by their parents or adult guardians. They did not make the decision to violate U.S. immigration law themselves, and by any reasonable standard of justice they are not to blame for ending up in undocumented status. It is a basic principle of law and ethics that children should not be punished for the transgressions of their elders. Unfortunately, this is exactly what will happen if President Trump rescinds Obama’s DACA order upon assuming office, as he has promised. If he follows through on that pledge, it will instantly render 1.3 million innocent people deportable from the country in which they grew up.
http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/01/24/trumps-plan-for-a-massive-deportation-is-cruel-unjust-and-economic-suicide/
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