Dreamers

Let's begin with what I hope is the obvious. A young child follows his or her parents in their life's journey. Children who crossed our border illegally are innocent of wrong doing. Often, those same children have lived in this country for many years, grew up and began to lead productive lives. They should not be considered illegal immigrants, even though they entered the United States illegally. They should be allowed to remain in the United States, given the appropriate documentation to do so, and even have a path toward citizenship. In my opinion, any other conclusion is ideologically driven, mean-spirited, and just plain wrong.

Rich Lowry provides some background:

Even in our divided politics, it should be a matter of consensus that the president of the United States can’t write laws on his own. That’s what President Barack Obama did twice when he unilaterally granted amnesties to swaths of the illegal-immigrant population. The courts blocked one of these measures, known as DAPA, and President Donald Trump has now begun the process of ending the other, DACA, on a delayed, rolling basis.

In a country with a firmer commitment to its Constitution and the rule of law, there’d be robust argument over how to deal with the DACA recipients — so-called DREAMers who were brought here by their illegal-immigrant parents as children — but no question that Congress is the appropriate body for considering the matter, not the executive branch.

Instead, President Trump is getting roundly denounced by all his usual critics for inviting Congress to work its will. Obama came out of his brief retirement to join the pile-on. In a Facebook post, the former president said it’s wrong “to target these young people,” and called Trump’s act “cruel” and “contrary to our spirit, and to common sense.”

Donald Trump has done the right thing. If, as our sanctimonious and hypocritical Democrat (and some GOP) members of congress continually tell us, the Dreamers are so, so important, then crafting a legislative package that protects them should be relatively easy. BUT ... it will require Democrats to accept the notion that our border should be protected in a more robust manner going forward, that using physical barriers (the "wall") along with other mechanisms to retard the flow of illegal immigrants will become part of a mini-immigration reform package. The GOP will have to accept the notion that Dreamers are not culpable for the actions of their parents and should be treated with compassion and fairness. That's what making legislation is all about—compromise.

Congress, sadly, can't get things done. But it's not the role of the president to do their job for them. It is the role of the people to vote these incompetents out of office and replace them with people who can get it done. I know that's idealistic, but it's the only viable way for a democracy to work.

UPDATE:
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On a related manner. The current media meme, fed by both sides of the aisle, is that Congress has "a lot on their plate" and can't possibly get it all done. After all, they tell us, "legislation is hard work."

B.S.!

Those of us in the private sector have lots on our plate, yet somehow, we do what we have to do to get it all done. We cancel days off and vacation, work 12 - 16 hours a day, and get the "hard work" done. Sometime we have to compromise, but we craft solutions that work. I expect nothing less from the blustering incompetents in Congress who whine about their work load and then, in passing, mention that they're working exactly 12 days in the month of September after taking the entire month of August off. Disgusting!