Democratic leaders in Congress
have been rightly criticized for “caving in” to Donald Trump and Congressional
Republicans during the three-day government shutdown without any real
concessions on DACA. Look, since anti-nonwhite immigrant fanatics Jeff Sessions
and Steven Miller “reminded” Trump on the reasons he was actually elected, and
DACA was rescinded on September 5 of last year, Trump has been positively schizophrenic
on the subject. One day he seems “empathetic, “ but far more often he is back
to equating “Dreamers” with murderers, rapists and perpetrators of drug
violence (note that in the last several days there has been at least two more mass
shootings—by white Americans). Instead of acknowledging his error in making deliberately
racist and ignorant attacks on nonwhite immigrants (from “shithole” countries),
he and his henchmen and henchwomen deny even making the reference, and then
Trump tweets about how DACA recipients are so dangerous that they threaten our “great
military.”
Meanwhile, Trump is once more
engaging in what he calls “bi-partisan” talks. No, he doesn’t want to talk to
Dick Durbin again, who called him out on his and his cronies’ racism, or Lindsey
Graham, who called Trump’s insistence on “merit-based” immigration flawed and
bigoted because it assumes that immigrants who work on farms and in
construction have no “merit.” No, his idea of finding a “bi-partisan” solution
to DACA is to first have a meeting with hardline anti-immigrant Republicans,
and then a second meeting with two Democrats from Deep South states he
apparently believes will be more “amenable” to a hardline “solution”—as if just
simple Congressional approval of DACA is that “hard” to do. After all, there
are approximately 1.5 million South and East Asian “guest workers” and “visitors”
currently with expired visas in the country (thus illegally), and neither Trump
or any Republican seem to think that is a particular “problem” that needs
addressed.
But Trump and his handpicked “team”
of Senators are not the only roadblock to immigration reform. There is definitely
a need for reform, especially one that recognizes that this country also needs so-called
“low-skill” workers in industries (like agriculture, forestry and construction)
that have been difficult to fill, and immigrants tend to be more willing to
move to where the jobs are rather than just sit and wait for jobs to come to
them, like most Americans, it seems. Just as bad as Trump and his unstable
personality is House Republicans, who blocked immigration bills in 2006 and
2013 that the White House was willing to sign. Is there such a thing as a “moderate”
Republican in the House? Supposedly there are a handful and most of them have
announced there are resigning their seats because they feel they have no place
at the table, having to compete with far-right fanatics from the “Freedom Caucus”
for “attention” from the party leadership—and usually losing.
No thanks to jelly-spined Speaker
of the House Paul Ryan, the House majority is all fire and no substance when it
comes to anything useful or human, let alone immigration reform. Yes, on
occasion Ryan will mumble something about “unhelpful” commentary from the
radicals in his party, but more usually he is so desperate not to appear weak
and ineffectual he will gladly wilt before the foul breath of the far-right.
Not that Ryan is without “principle”; after all, he has long advocated deep
cuts in or eliminating Medicare and Medicaid, and currently is pushing for a 25
percent cut in both. During his campaign Trump told working class voters that
he would touch neither, but then again, he will do what “needs to be done” to
pay for his “great military” and his “beautiful wall.” Needless-to-say, House
Republicans have no substantive immigration “plan” on the table, and have made
no promises that they will even consider a Trump-approved plan, that will
likely have a difficult time even passing the Senate.
The upshot of all of this is that
Democrats and the few moderate Republicans in the Senate (that the emotionally infantile
Trump refuses to talk to now) should have no more expectation that an
immigration deal will be done without compulsion than since December, when they
last “punted” the issue without a resolution, or since September when they knew
the day of reckoning was coming. Or for that matter since at least 2004, when
Republicans renewed using immigration as tool of scapegoating and hate to motivate
their “base”—and which as Trump has proven, is still “useful” to them. No one should
expect an immigration deal that has any humanity or decency or common sense to
the real economic needs of this country by February 8, when the current
short-term spending bill ends.
What will the Democrats do then?
One thing that is certain that they must continue to make clear that it is
Trump and the far-right of the political spectrum who are pushing their version
of “reform” that is inherently indecent and deliberately focused not on passage
but defeat. But then again that certainly won’t bother those from Trump’s base,
like Stefanie MacWilliams, who posted this on the website Halsey News, which with
no apparent irony claims that “the more biased the better” is not incompatible
with the truth: “I can say the American people have zero legal responsibility
for a single one of these (DACA) people. They would be fully within their
rights to ship every last one home. Every
one of them is a criminal, whether they actively chose to be or not. Tough
luck.” Most Americans may claim to be less immoral, but I’ll believe it when I
see it.
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