The ruse is up.
Liberals are intentionally hyperventilating - over nothing.
President Trump has never said he would deport DACA children.
15
These people know no other life. Talk to a child of divorced parents who live in separate states. Uprooting them from the only good life they have had is cruel and unusual. What have we become? Under this Administration I keep being reminded of Nazi Germany. I can't shake the feeling that we are being so horrid to people. I am ashamed. The Administration should be as well.
21
Who could seriously expect otherwise from this court, turned political instrument. Remember, it is the same group that voted "Citizens United", an infamous decision signaling nothing less than the end of American democracy.
Judge Roberts, a stern conservative himself, should be careful not to let his court turn completely reactionary. His already embattled legacy would be obscured for ever...
15
We as a nation are better than this. A minority of the nation is not. 85% of the nation does not support Trump and his hard core base's moves in this direction. Sadly, the current electoral system allowed that minority to put this vicious retrobate into office, and all that follows. He has been propped up by a extreme faction on the right, also an extreme minority view in the nation. Yet, the country appears willing to stand by and allow this to continue.
10
But, he added, “the program is unlawful and unconstitutional and cannot be successfully defended in court.” If we substitute President for program then it follows we must get rid of him also
8
We lie to ourselves all the time and elect men who are in fact cowards to sit in judgement of the most brave and wonder why our nation is falling apart.
Hypocrisy is no longer a thread running through our social fabric it has become woven into the whole cloth from which our Supreme Court Justices tailor their robes.
7
Again, the Republican party and corporate America using trump as a shield to hide their own amoral souls.
10
There seems to be no end to the immense cruelty of the wrong, aka repubs. We’ve seen children in cages from them and now a desire to send back people who came with their mothers at a young age, who have contributed to this country, back to somewhere they don’t know...and they don’t care.
They keep talking about rule of law while supporting one of the most corrupt and Russian loving presidents in history and are ok that members of his staff ignore subpoenas.
I now understand the definition of deplorable.
15
700,000 innocent men and women who were born in this country, and voluntarily identified themselves to the United States Government, are about to be rounded up by ICE and deported back to countries they have never known. The insipid cruelty of our new white nationalist foreign policy is on display for all the world to see. Oh, and by the way, Stephen Miller is a definitely white nationalist, as recently leaked e-mails prove beyond a shadow of a doubt. This is a travesty.
8
So, what doe this actually mean for the Dreamers-if they are not going to be deported, can they no longer work, go to school, marry??? What does this mean for them??
12
The mean spirited nature of the republican party has no limits. There-my short but true comment for today.
12
Sad state of affairs here. Seems like the moral equivalent of kicking a cripple. However we must all look into the mirror and ask why do we have representatives in Washington who can’t fashion reasonable legislation on immigration? IMO the congress and the senate by their inaction are the quiet perpetrators of this injustice.
7
The Democrats had a couple of opportunities to hang tough when it came to funding the wall and other odious elements of Trump's immigration policies. If the Democrats had any backbone, and any power to look into the near future, they would have seen that the so-called president packed to court with his buddies for just this reason, and that the Supreme Court will be a loser until the balance shifts.
This is yet another grave and cruel injustice we can thank the Nazi Stephen Miller and company. So much hate inspired damage and death to try to reverse when we can get these guys out, and hopefully in prison where so many of these criminals belong.
7
This is crazy: “The whole thing was about work authorization and these other benefits,” the chief justice said. “Both administrations have said they’re not going to deport the people.”
Trump may not try to deport the 700,000 immediately, but will deport them as ICE finds them.
These people have done nothing wrong, unless you expect children under 16 including infants to refuse to go with their parents because that would be illegal. Many will be deported to countries where they don't know anybody, don't know the language, may not be accepted as citizens, and where their lives may be at risk.
They are Americans in every way except for the paperwork that their parents didn't do.
10
Regardless of how this turns out, remember this when it comes time to vote. If by some miracle the Supreme court upholds DACA it won't be because of anything positive that Donny the Dictator did.
10
For all those people screaming how immoral it is, how wrong it is, how these have an unquestionable right to stay! I got news for you IN NO COUNTRY in the world does being brought in ILLEGALLY has a child give you an unquestionable right to stay forever. There is NO legal basis NONE whatsoever for the whole the have a god given right to stay in a country that they are NOT a citizen of, NOT in any country in the world. In any country world you could immigrate at any age from 1 week to 97 years and you still wouldn't have an unquestionable right to stay. Are we nation laws or the worlds overflow tank?
31
@Stephan Another question" are we a nation of unthinking , uncaring applications of law, or does compassion and mercy apply anymore?" If you had your child with you when you committed a felony, is the child also guilty and punishable for the felony the parent committed?
11
If 700,000 people deported even though are paying taxes, where is the revenue lost going to come from. This is nothing fascism.
6
Trump has only one reason for dismantling DACA: Obama created it.
Any other explanation is laughable
10
Let's get the facts right.
1. These are not children. They may have been when they came here, but now they're all adults, so let's stop calling them kids.
2. Congress is supposed to create and modify immigration law so how about exhorting our representatives to do what they're paid to do instead of this impeachment charade. We elected you to pass laws. Do your job!
3. Let's secure the borders and let immigrants arrive in an orderly manner, applying for their status before they leave their countries of origin. I like the idea of them waiting in Mexico till their cases can be heard. Many opportunists lose patience while those with valid cases are more likely to wait.
4. Let's save the violin playing for all immigrants, not just a few cherry-picked ones, who are actually damaging the prospects of the others. Remember, they are no longer kids, most are now well into adulthood, in their 30s and even 40s.
I'm an immigrant and I moved here for the security of living in in a law abiding country. Let's enforce all these laws and not make exceptions for a few.
32
“It’s not about the law...” but it should be. The Supreme Court should judge the lawfulness of an act. Congress can act to create DACA if it truly wanted.
19
Such a decision would be simply inhumane.
5
May I suggest that people re-read Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution: Congress shall have the responsibility to establish laws on Naturalization. DACA should not be, nor was it intended to be, left to 9 unelected Judges. Congress do your job!!!!
22
This is the end of America as we knew it.
5
Arcane legal arguments aside, it has never been more clear that — in this vile Administration — policy follows personality disorder. Specifically Donald Trump’s and Stephen Miller’s.
The cruelty is the point.
8
“Some are very tough, hardened criminals.”
Trump shows his hand. The only people on DACA are those who were subjected to a criminal background check. It's a disgrace to display such ignorance.
6
@Wayne
There have been many stories published in liberal newspapers about criminals being DACA recipients. So trump was not wrong.
18
Trump is calling many of DACA’s ‘hardened criminals’. Trump is the criminal who has no compassion. His only goal to to appeal to the worst traits of humanity and to enrich himself by any means possible. These people are all good citizens who have live here since being young children. Shipping them all back to a country that they don't know is a crime against humanity.
Only Native Americans have the true right to remain here. Trump's family were immigrants and so were/is Melania's.
6
Trump, essentially a career criminal - ask any New Yorker, and a proud bigot, lies saying he doesn't want to hurt anybody. Yeah, right. Now he admits that he feels justified in hurting people. Supreme Court Justices put in place by a criminal and bigot get to mete out cruel and pointless punishment.
We let this go on? What have we become?
2
An ignoramus gets elected president by a minority of the voters.. This buffoon brings to Supreme Court justices regressive policies for the Neanderthal SCOTUS (5 Republicans) with which they are in agreement. The minority of people get to decide policy. Where else except in dictatorships does this occur? It’s time to rid ourselves of the Electoral College. In the meantime the next Democratic president should simply put more progressives on the court
6
Any legislation or decision by Obama is doomed with this administration, be it Affordable Care, muslim immigration, clean air, and now DACA. The administration has learned how to phrase legal arguments with this SCOTUS. DACA is one of many (to come). In the same list: Religious Freedom Act, Gerrymandering, Wade-Roe ..
2
I hope you will not mind if Canada takes this opportunity to create a specific immigration program for those people; won't you...
5
The DACA group have been educated by the USA..........and when they return to the country of their birth, they can use their education and training to get good jobs and to help the people of Mexico.
Their relatives in Mexico would welcome them............and their fellow citizens would surely welcome them to help make Mexico a better country!
When life hands you a lemon, make lemonade.
18
Just a reminder, the Democrats controlled both the House and the Senate the first two years of the Obama Administration.
Obama could have made DACA a law, instead of a weak EO which any future President could end.
Unfortunately, even the controlling Democrats would not support DACA legislation - because they knew it would have inflamed the voters who would have tossed them out.
14
This is so untrue on so many levels. Obama’s first goal was to try to give us affordable healthcare...and...I’ve yet to hear Dems complain about the humane DACA program. I have experience inhumanity and cruelty in this country, which the wrong, aka repubs seem to excel.
3
@Gene Nelson
And the brilliant way they rammed Obamacare through Congress decimated the Democratic Party - causing them to lose the House, the Senate, the White House - and the Supreme Court.
12
The presidents' zeal for ousting DACA immigrants is characteristically cruel and unjustifiable. No surprise - that's who he is.
8
Trump was looking for English speaking immigrants who are assimilated into America and love America. Healthy, hard working and an asset to America. Sounds exactly like the Dreamers. Also notice there are an estimated added two million Dreamers who did not sign up for DACA for various reasons. Many times due to lack of proof of their locations at age 5 to 7.
If the Supreme Court and the Congress cannot get this right then they are useless. Trump again is toying with the lives of people to get some political benefit. At one point he was ready to trade the Dreamer hostages for the money to build the Southern Wall. A waste of money, but worthwhile if you have to pay off a terrorist to save lives.
2
I live in West Virginia - one of the states where the population is one of the highest for being native WVers, and "illegal" immigrants or "dreamers" are hard to come by. And yet, I will hear time and time again about how illegal immigrants are the root cause of...something. I've even heard from some its OK if they are whites as they are our "brothers" but not for brown, blacks or yellow skins. Its hard to hear such guff.
The narrative fueled by their own PR machines have bound the GOP to be incapable of providing proper legislation for DREAMERS or for real immigration control. To do so would be seen as a betrayal to their base.
Fair is fair, we need legislation and not executive orders. And you should expect the worst from Trump in this regard if the program is ended. To expect otherwise is to fly in the face of decades of proof of his inhumanity to anything but a greenback.
The GOPs plan for immigration is the same one as for the national debt and healthcare - they just don't have one; except to build a wall, spend and pray it gets paid back by fairies and to make the healthcare simply a luxury item for the wealthy.
4
In the 1930s when Jews were desperate to get out Germany there were those in the U.S. who were somewhat sympathetic but justified what the State Department was doing to limit immigration. We know what happened then. Yes, there is no purge going on but it is very dangerous from where many of these immigrants came from.
One of the students in my class in the early 2000s was deported to Algeria. He had been brought here when he was an infant as his father was a member of his country's legation. There was a coup in that country and the father remained here with his family. He built a thriving business and when his son entered college the father was deported. A year later his son was deported as well. Fortunately he family had resources. He ended up legally emigrating to an English speaking country. Now he is a citizen of that country and with his education which he later completed in his new country he enjoys his new life. Sad to say he was once an "American kid" with no idea that he would be forced to make his future elsewhere. He would have been a productive member of our society. Fortunately, unlike the majority who will be displaced, his family had some resources.
4
One more reason people need to vote.
3
It's about time that the Trump administration showed some respect for the citizens of the United States of America, We are proud AND legal citizens. Two years is more than enough time for all DACA recipients to start working on the path to citizenship. Being here illegally is not a good way to take advantage of all America has to offer.
“DACA was always meant to be a temporary stopgap measure that could be rescinded at any time, which is why it was only granted in two-year increments,”.
DACA, recipients. Face up to the wrong your parents did and impress your children by standing front and center in a courtroom to address the wrongs of your parents.
13
“I do not favor punishing children,” Mr. Trump said"
"But I do favor taking them away from their parents and locking them up."
Something very wrong here.
4
When you look at Trump’s WH, the Republicans in Congress and the conservative SCOTUS, Republicans almost always look insensitive.
I don’t agree with Republicans on abortion but I respect their humanitarian position. But on this DACA issue and many many more they just appear like the bad guys in super hero movies.
4
DACA is not illegal if the president has power to utilize resources of enforcement. Trump can disagree and terminate the program by stating that he wants to commit the resources to deport them, but he will not. He wants to have Supreme Court say it was illegal in the first place. If Trump wins will he have to stop taking money from the military to build his wall because it is illegal or is it a an alicacation of resources?
2
Good that it ends.
This decision should be delivered by Friday - it’s rather simple - a President issued a order, the next president changed the order that is the danger of legislating by executive order.
17
I’m a progressive, and I think this program should actually be extended to give these young people citizenship. That said, the commenters railing here against the GOP are unhinged.
Most run of the mill conservatives I know don’t want to hurt anybody. They are not cruel, nasty, or unjust, as many commenters here declare outright or at least imply. They just want the US government to successfully enforce our immigration laws, a pretty reasonable request.
The progressive tendency to mendaciously refer to Dreamer parents as simply “immigrants” or to use the ridiculous euphemism of “undocumented” is dishonest. It may help us “win” an argument, but it skirts the issue, builds distrust, and destroys the genuine conversation we so desperately need.
416
@Kryztoffer Giving them an end-run around the millions of other people waiting for citizenship is exactly what the proponents of DACA want. But sadly for them, it looks like they're not going to get it. Let this be a lesson learned - establishing immigration work-arounds by executive fiat is bad idea, it's bad for the recipients and its bad for this country too.
57
@Kryztoffer
The conversation is happening at the SCOTUS and the op-ed pages of the NYT precisely because it has been disenabled from political discourse or Congressional action.
Individual respondents passionate engagement likely hinges on real moral concerns for the lives of real persons. Affecting a type of bespoke legalistic high-ground only further distances from the multiple living layers of support for maintenance or evolution of the DACA program.
24
@Kryztoffer They prove differently via their actions, their votes, and the politicians they support.
13
This is devastating news as a family friend is a Dreamer I've known for the last 7 years. He has started his own business and is an asset to the community. He came into the country when he was 4 years old and has worked hard all his life.
The American dream dies today.
2142
@greg I hope that on the way home he will thank the US for giving him opportunities and benefits we give our own citizens. He certainly is much more ahead than had he stayed in his country. He can follow the skills of his parents in making a successful life in a foreign land and he can always come back legally.
29
@greg To (misquote the) words of Langston Hughes ("Harlem"), I think that the American dream was deferred... again... today. People will fight to keep that dream alive. It may be gasping for breath, but it's not dead yet. I see the response here in the comments, overwhelmingly in support of DACA, and I can only hope that there are enough of us to revive that dream.
30
@Qcell
Really? He'll have the same economic and legal environment in some random country that will allow him to repeat his success? And come back legally how and when?
74
As an immigrant, I hope this program is stopped.
Immigration reform, I think, should not just be done for cherrypicked groups somehow deemed deserving, while the vast majority of immigrants are forgotten.
This cherry-picking stops efforts at wider reform, I think. Allowing this program, I feel, causes the rest of the immigrant community, which also needs help, to be forgotten because the “special” kids are taken care of and everybody else, who somehow doesnt elicit the same sympathy or support, is unceremoniously banded off into detention or summarily flown out.
It also gives many of these groups and individuals that claim to be advocating for these “kids” a kind of moral authority that they’re “helping kids” or “doing the right thing” or doing “something” about immigration, when they’re simply a drop in the bucket!
Their efforts only allow the moral space for the rest of the immigrants to be hounded around the country and reform to be ever-postponed, and the rest of immigrants to be used as a political football.
No. This needs to stop. Get everybody out, or help everybody, not just the special “young” ones who make some sleep easier at night as having done something “good!”
It’s all or nothing!!!
This program should be denied so that there is a wider effort to address every immigrant.
373
Frankly that opinion completely misses the point of DACA. The point being that many of these DACA kids 1) had no choice in the matter, and 2) often have little to no experience in the countries they get deported to. I e. they may not even speak the language. Its absurd to think that justice is being served by putting someone in such a dire situation.
Regardless of all that, should we really hold children accountable for the crimes of their parents?
I will agree with you that the whole system needs reform.
780
@Robert Let this be a lesson to those parents who think of breaking the law in a similar fashion in the future. Ignorance of the law does not mean it does not apply to you. As far as the bleeding heart stuff goes, I'll go on a limb and estimate that many, if not most, of the parents who snuck into the country with their children had " little to no experience in the countries they get deported to, ie. they may not even speak the language". If they could do it, their children can.
BTW - It is very likely that most of these kids do speak the language of their parents, i.e. the language of their native countries and place of citizenship.
93
I agree with the help everyone idea. Assess on a case by case basis. If they are productive members of society then give them a path towards citizenship. If they are not, provide them with the tools to become productive. Then reassess after they have had an opportunity to use those tools. Regardless, nobody should be sent back if they face extreme hardship or worse. There should be a level of responsibility for every person now living in the United States unless they embody a threat to the country. There may be cases where it is advisable to return someone to the country of their origin, but you can’t just drop them off like a box box of kittens in a dumpster and hope someone will help them.
61
It’s just another exee example of this administration ripping up agreements signed in good faith. This is showing the world trump can’t be trusted.
5
Unfortunately, it also shows the world the US can't be trusted.
2
Elections have consequences - severe ones. Chief Justice is delusional if he’s taking the Trump Administration at their word that they won’t deport Dreamers.
These people (Conservatives) have only one goal: Make America White Again.
Shameful - absolutely Shameful.
4
You are a country of immigrants. Only the indigenous people of your nation can claim to be the original inhabitants of your mountains and plains. Every other person landed on your shores from elsewhere - the majority by choice and a minority by forced enslavement. There is no one, other than the indigenous people, who has any right to discriminate and chose who should come to your country. Your only hope of renewal and growth is to refresh and enhance your population through the acceptance of those who land on your shores ready to roll up their sleeves and make a new and prosperous life for themselves. Yes there will be some bad apples, your president is the living embodiment of the spawn of unsavoury immigrants, but the vast majority will lead blameless lives, self supporting, entrepreneurial and passionate about the value of educating their children. This current attack on the Daca children is blatantly racist, unfair and reminiscent of the vilification and expulsion of Jews, Palestinians and other identifiable groups who have suffered such cruelty in the past.
91
The USA needs immigration reform, patterned after Canada's immigration policy:
First requirement: Apply for a visa from your home country;
The requirements of the skilled worker category are intended to assess applicants, who are likely to become economically established in Canada after arrival.
Eligible applicants must either:
Have at least one year of continuous full-time or equivalent paid work experience in the past 10 years in one of the 38 qualifying occupations; or
Have been living in Canada with legal status as a Temporary Foreign Worker or an international student for at least one year; or
Qualify for Arranged Employment with a full-time permanent job offer from a Canadian employer.
The second element of the skilled worker category is one of financial resources. This is a straightforward requirement – an applicant must demonstrate that they have sufficient financial resources to support themselves and their dependents for 6 months after arrival in Canada. If you have an approved job offer, this requirement is waived.
Education (max 25 points)
Ranges from 5 points for completing high school to 25 points for completing a master’s or Ph.D.
The system also gives credit for trade certificates or apprenticeship programs.
Language Skills
Canada uses both English and French as official languages, and you may receive credit for proficiency in either or both.
Marks are awarded separately for abilities to listen, speak, read, and write each official language.
22
@Pauline Mott we personally know dreamers who actually belong to endangered native tribes who lived in North America way way way before White man arrived from Europe. DNA doesn’t lie, these kids are actually descendants of the original human settlers of North America.
6
These young people have not broken any laws.
They were brought here and grew up here. They speak English as their native tongue and love America.
They are exactly the kind of people you'd want to keep.
82
@Peter Piper
The laws need to be changed. The SCOTUS is there to define existing laws.
5
@Vivian You are right Vivian. Lots of people who came here as students or as visitors would like to stay but they have to leave when their visas expire. Did they make a mistake by not coming illegally?
We need a fair immigration system but even a fair one will have to say, "not everyone can stay indefinitely".
And certainly, "who will vote for the Democrats?" should not enter into the consideration at all.
Of course the Democrats will fight for those communities who vote for them. But "voting for the Democrats" should not be a qualification. The two parties should arrive at a compromise and once there is a compromise, for heaven's sake, ENFORCE the law!
13
Awarding undocumented immigrants DACA is like giving C students 4.5 GPAs just for showing up. It's an insult to the rest of us.
15
The cruelty of your comment is staggering. I can only hope that having understanding and compassion for these young people brought here without their understanding, growing up loving this country, working hard paying taxes having families themselves does not diminish others it only enriches America. The hatred of those wishing success for others is not what America should stand for.
7
The bottom line is most of the dreamers when they get their citizenship probably are going to vote Democrat!!
6
Here is a DACA story -- its NOT that unusual.
A mother and sister left the war torn area and entered legally. The five or so year old daughter would follow with her dad, who also would enter legally -- except dad died and daughter is now there alone in the chaos of war. Mother is not yet a US citizen and fears going back, friends bring the daughter into the US; i.e. daughter enters illegally.
The daughter graduates from high school and wants her social security number because she wants to go to the Community College. Mother says "Sit down honey we have to talk...." that's when daughter finds out she is not a citizen. Mother has remarried and daughter has several younger siblings. Daughter is the only one in the family who is not a citizen.
Perhaps the family mishandled her status while daughter was a child.
At any rate daughter grew up in US & she trusts this country; she quickly came in from the cold and signed up for DACA.
She is not an illegal hiding from the government. The government knows who she is.
She has a lawyer and is trying to seek asylum. But she is unlikely to get it … so she might get deported.
3
I've long considered him craven and crooked, but I never till now thought of him as downright "cruel" .
1
Abandoning the Kurds, turning our back on the Daca immigrants--seems that the new modus operendi of America is to reneg on allegiances.
3
This is racism, pure and simple. If a person has been in the US for most of their life; no longer knows, or never knew their “native” country, barely, or never spoke the language, that means they have been integrated into American life and are essentially American. But the Trump administration (aka Steven Miller) believes they don’t belong here because of the color of their skin and non-northern heritage. Are they sending people back to Ireland or any European countries? And now SCOTUS is approving this. This is incredibly disgusting.
5
Trump toadies abound, even on the Supreme Court. Kavanaugh's comment, "I assume that was a very considered decision" is a joke. NOTHING is ever a considered decision in the trump administration. That's part of the problem. I am so disgusted.
6
I helped, encouraged and found people to help several dreamers to fill out DACA forms and bring some order and good faith to their dilemma. I was a coordinator of a literacy council that helped immigrants study and pass citizenship tests, get more education and find jobs. Why can't the federal government do its part and help these law abiding people? They are citizens in every way except in name.
4
@KK In NC
What have you done to help poor people whose families have lived in the USA for 100 - 200 years, including children who need help with schoolwork?
Without your zip code it's impossible to point you to the areas in your city / state where these folks live.
But wherever you live, a mile or so from your home there are families who need help, children who need help learning to read, help with math. There may be young families who would like to learn how to plant a vegetable garden; who would like to learn how to can tomatoes, to freeze squash and okra and other veggies. (You might be helping families whose ancestors brought okra seeds from Africa.)
They are there.....all you have to do is look, go to one of the churches in the neighborhood, ask at schools about helping children with studying.
5
Every day I think I cannot be more ashamed of this country until the next day comes and the next and the next.Please America home of the brave stand up to this injustice & brutality in your own home and end this shameful page of history before it’s too late.
6
Were suffering the sins we've visited on countless
countries around the world.
4
It's sickening that legislative branch of our "government" will not write a bill.
5
Our nation made a terrible mistake in not stopping Republican obstruction of Obama's choice of Supreme Court justice. Like Trump himself, Trump's selection of Supreme Court justices is illegitimate and results in this travesty of justice.
5
Another cruel and shameful act by Trump. These are people who are productive residents and many of them have served in the armed devices. Unbelievable.
3
We need a miracle for these partisan judges decide to be decent. I am reminded of the letter written by a mother to her Congressional son, who became the deciding vote for women's right to vote: "Sonny, do the decent thing". He did, and it passed.
This is also about decency, and an educated understanding of how our country's history has always been enriched by immigration. (Unless, of course, you are a Native American: yet another horrendous black spot on our history.)
It sickens me that our public and the courts of our land are populated by such ignorance: those so ignorant of history, economics, and humanitarianism, that they need to inflict their histrionic fears on the most vulnerable. I hope and pray that the Supreme Court can hear the pleas of their ancestors, and do the right thing.
People are our greatest resource. To turn them away is remarkably stupid, both morally and economically. Our history is the evidence for that.
2
Word from Arizona:
Dreamers are all over the place in our schools. Everybody knows. Nobody cares.
Some of these kids are at U of A, ASU, and NAU. They get a tuition break approved by the Board of Regents 8-0.
These kids are politically active in every way except voting. Their Spanish speaking skills are invaluable to the Democratic Party. And they are organized. Really well organized.
Dreamers in Arizona do not live furtive lives. And not many are farm workers. And anyone who tells them to go home is a kook.
And now for the kicker:
All the DACA kids have drivers licenses. And, under DACA, many of them got good jobs. Arizona is not going to revoke their licenses. And nobody is going to fire them.
As for the new Dreamers, they're working hard on the 2020 campaign.
The conservative Justices don't have nearly as much power as people seem to think.
2
How dare they betray the dream? It sickens me to watch these privileged justices choose Trump’s version of justice over a truly compassionate interpretation of DACA. Devastating.
3
Oh the protests here regarding "Obama's unconstitutional over reach" implementing DACA is very telling. This is about the Obama haters and hypocrisy. It is fine when Trump's executive orders demand deportations because a president has the constitutional right to decide all matters relating to borders but when Obama made decisions related to borders it was over reach.
4
In 2013, the Democratic-led Senate passed bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform that included addressing the plight of Dreamers. The GOP-led House refused to take up the legislation.
In early 2019, the Democratic-led House passed comprehensive legislation reform that included Dreamers and the GOP-led Senate refuses to take up the legislation.
Using Dreamers as a political football, whether to appeal to a hateful, vindictive base of support or whether to try to make a hateful, vindictive, inhumane President look humane in a reelection bid is something the Supreme Court can not fix. They can only rule on immigration law on the books today and though one can hope for some humanity from the conservative majority on the Court, this is unlikely.
No. The President will use a favorable ruling for him by the Supreme Court as a smoke and mirrors tactic to fool people into believing he pushed through immigration reform when he has had that opportunity for several months and could have acted without taking DACA to the Supreme Court at all. The suffering and anxiety of Dreamers and other human beings means nothing to him.
2
Our legal system is built on precedents. If the Supreme Court prevents the current administration from cancelling a program - not even an executive order let alone a duly passed law - then how will future presidents be able to cancel administrative programs without significant challenge?
Congress makes laws. The administration only carries them out.
8
Most immigrants come here only when life in their country has becomes untenable because of economic or political or ecologic collapse. These are victims and refugees, not criminals, and their children are even less culpable. It used to be possible for the undocumented to fix their status by living here a long time, paying taxes, and staying out of trouble. All of the pathways to legalization have been blocked over the last twenty years stranding families, and keeping labor cheap and fearful. I am tired of sharing my country with the folks who hate on our most vulnerable neighbors, pretending to be concerned with the letter of the law when in truth, they are merely racist authoritarians willing to rationalize state-sponsored kidnapping and child abuse. Can we deport them instead?
2
Moral of the story is simple: don't ever, ever, ever trust the U.S. government.
2
@M Don’t illegally immigrate into the country. That is the real moral of the story.
13
Let's talk about Trump's chain migration. Why did Melania's parents get to step off Air Force One and be sworn into U.S. citizenship within a week? What kind of rule of law was that Trump?
6
Clearly some Justices in Supreme Court are as corruptive and short-sighted as Trump
3
Moscow Mitch McConnell broke the rules of the Senate and held up Obama's nominee of Merrick Garland long enough to get Trump as president to stack the Supreme Court with heartless conservative yes men.
This is the price of sitting on your couch and not caring enough to vote.
6
The cost of the Supreme Court seat stolen my Moscow Mitch is going to be untold suffering. SCOTUS is no longer a legitimate body and deserves no respect.
3
Can Citizen #1 be trusted? He has already split our Republic in half. Ponder this, if voted out of office will he leave?
2
Trump was elected on the issue of illegal immigration. And he will be re-elected on this issue.
10
I am so sick and tried of American White Supremacy White Nationalism and Fascism as expressed by Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, Steve Bannon, the other Republicans legislators and the American citizens who side with them.
I am disgusted by the actions of the brutal jack booted agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and vow to support every possible legal action to impede their actions. I refuse to be complicit in or in any way cooperate with and support these men and women acting in my name to enforce our broken and unconstitutional immigration policies and laws.
But most of all I am fed up with and disgusted by America's so-called free enterprise open market capitalism that seeks economic advantage be maintaining and supporting the maintenance of a large pool of undocumented immigrant labor to undercut American citizens wages and job security by providing a constantly threatened shadow labor force.
The attacks on DACA applicants, and birth right children, these most American of all young people who were innocently were brought to this nation through no fault of their own or born here of undocumented immigrants are the most reprehensible of all these indefensible actions by our republic. These young people are the quintessence of American ideals and are to be embraced and not rejected.
Every single human being in the USA (including First Nations) is a decedent of immigrants since hominids including Homo sapiens did not evolve in the Western Hemisphere,
4
The Federalist Society has for thirty years a near lock on Republican presidential appointments to the Supreme Court and the federal bench. The recent additions of Brett Kavangaugh and Neil Gorsuch--who is quoted here as shedding hypocritical crocodile tears for those young people he seems ready to summarily deport--demonstrate the destructive success the political right has had in ideologizing the United States Supreme Court. And one of those Supreme Court appointments sits in a seat stolen for the right-wing through the dishonorable machinations of Mitch McConnell.
It will be a sad day for those young people Donald Trump's xenophobic cruelty and political demagogy seeks to uproot from the only country and the only homes they have ever known. This is a betrayal not only of what the DACA recipients were offered in the name of the United States by President Obama--it is also a betrayal of Trump's mendacious reassurances of two years ago.
3
To everyone wondering why Congress hasn’t done anything:
H.R.6 - American Dream and Promise Act of 2019
Introduced to the House 3/12/2019
Passed by the House 6/4/2019
Talk to Mitch. It’s in his graveyard.
5
I have always respected our Supreme Court, even when I disagreed with decisions. I believed they were honest, fair, ethical, understood the "big picture" and exercised common sense and decency in their judgments AND followed the law.
The Roberts Court has lost sight of the role of the Supreme Court and are now acting like narrow-minded legal clerks. They act as if they don't read the paper, don't know what is going on in America, don't understand the meaning of words and that there might be people before them that are lying constantly . . . and certainly lying about the immigration issue.
Are they naive? No it is more than that. They are sticking their head in the sand because they no longer have the integrity to fulfill the responsibilities and duties assigned to them by the Constitution.
One remedy is for the American people to make sure that laws that are drafted cannot be manipulated by partisan Supreme Court justices. Another is for the Supreme Court to examine all of the other illegal actions that have been taken by executive order during the last three years.
I would also like them to look up the word "emergency" in the dictionary. That might help them make some sensible decisions about immigration.
Good luck to all of us as we clean up the mess we have made of our country.
3
As a compassionate person supportive of legal migration for refugees from countries where they will die due to ethnic cleansing or famine and a Californian who believes that because many U.S. citizens' opportunities are allocated to non-citizens who will work cheaply and accept sub-standard teams deterrents to illegal migration are necessary so as not to diminish quality of life for all U.S. citizens, IMHO it would be in our best interest for there to be a path to citizenship for current residents and a termination date for DACA with no new enrollments.
2
Either the Republican Senators will get a conscience and throw Trump out or the electorate will have to do it in 2020. After that, DACA can be brought back.
If Trump can change the program at the stroke of a pen, so too can the next Democratic president. Meantime, Dreamers, feel free to stay, just don't have a job or drive. Politicians cannot in their wildest dreams imagine what the country and the economy would look like if the undocumented were all fired from their jobs. Who's plucking those chickens in Mississippi this week?
1
it's past 1am here in DC. and I cannot sleep. as I read some of the comments I'm utterly heartbroken. to think some of you would suggest anything but compassion is beyond comprehension. to suggest that they go back to land they never knew and wait their turn...just wow. no words. all of you are likely sleeping soundly now, not to think of this again until it is in the headlines again. what a privilege it must be to not be one of us.
3
Yes this stuff and so much more under the current administration keeps me awake at night as well. I shutter to think what this country will be like with four more years of this evil monster being in the White House.
The DACA programs is a wild card for Trump. He’s using their lives as leverage against the democrats. It not about the law or constitution.
2
Most of these people didn't "come" illegally -- they were brought here. Through no fault of their own, they know no other country. It is beyond inhumane to use these innocent people as political footballs. Forget DACA, we should give them full citizenship immediately.
4
“I assume that was a very considered decision,” Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh said of a second set of justifications offered by the administration in a memorandum last year after its decision to end the program was challenged in court.
When has the Trump administration ever made a “very considered decision” that didn’t involve keeping Trump out of jail? Yet you assume they did in this case, Mr. Kavanaugh?
Justice Neil M. Gorsuch said he saw little point in requiring the administration to come forward with better or more elaborate reasons. “What good would another five years of litigation over the adequacy of that explanation serve?” he asked.
Translation: “Thank you Mr. President for our cushy lifetime appointments. We will prove our loyalty to you not just in word but in deed, by using our “conservative” majority on the court to rubber stamp your priorities without giving our decisions a second thought. As long as we put a smile on your face Mr. President, that’s the most important thing. Is there anything else we can do for you while we’re at it?”
3
I don’t know what the SCOTUS members are imbibing, but does anyone really believe Trump will not use these people to extort something from their defenders?
Trump should do the right thing and offer to give amnesty and a path to citizenship to these people without condition. That would break the logjam, and possibly produce a long term solution to this mess.
I have zero faith this will happen.
1
When immigration is involved, we are suddenly no longer a nation of laws. And because of it, we will eventually no longer be a nation at all.
9
President Obama’s executive order on the “dreamers” (a romanticized term created to evoke sympathy) was an attempt by the executive branch to legislate. The Supreme Court should dispense with it.
On a practical basis, none of the “dreamers” (whose population equals or exceeds that of Portland, Oregon), has an intrinsic right to remain in the United States. However, those who are educated, skilled, assimilated into American society and are self-sustaining should be given a path to citizenship. Those who are not self-sustaining, uneducated, unassimilated, and have Any criminal record whatsoever should be deported .
6
My understanding is that none of the DACA recipients are criminals. Part of the application process included a thorough background check.
One president's executive disorder can be wiped away by a successor. It is the Congress' job to create law.
9
'In good faith' appears to be a term that has fallen out of favor with the current regime. First with the Kurds in international policy, now here with our own dreamers. Will anything that's honorable about our democracy remain once we get these people out of here? All I can say is, our next president has one heck of a rebuilding job to do, and I'm not sure any of the current candidates will be up to it.
2
If a president can start a program, it seems reasonable that the president can end a program.
7
The Supreme Court lost all credibility when they decided that corporations, essentially paper, have the same rights as me, a living human being. Oh, except that if I break the law I go to jail, but when a corporation breaks the law the corporation doesn’t have to go to jail. Etc., etc.
3
Trump will profit by a Supreme Court decision against DACA by then signing legislation to legalize most of the DACA recipients according to the absence of a criminal record. He could have done that when he had a Republican majority in both houses and even now. But better politics to make a problem and then solve it.
1
There exists other programs for involuntary immigrants to remain in the USA (human trafficking victims’ visa). Perhaps an orphaned dreamer can serve as a test case to earn the right to stay (so as to not be required to testify against parents).
SCOTUS 's conservative majority notwithstanding, my bet is it will somehow manage to kick the can down the road, stall the situation long enough past 2020 election. A non-decision decision, if you will
Some time ago Trump offered to allow all the DACA people to stay in the US. In return he asked for the wall to be built.
The Dems. didn't want to hear this and the potential deal broke off. Whose fault is this?
Just saying.
5
@Andrew
You got the facts wrong. Trump walked away from the deal due to right wing agitation over helping brown skinned immigrants.
1
Congress should address this. That's the problem. Congress is broken. At this point the country is caught between two bad consequences. One bad consequence is that we will lose trust in our government if we take protected status away from cultural Americans who came out of the shadows based on the promise of protection. The other bad consequences is that we set up a perverse incentive for people to bring their children into the country illegally if we let that be a path to legal status here. A decent and smart administration would try to find a way within current law to head off both those outcomes. Such action is not mandated by the current law, so the courts can't help. So really it's up to congress, but they don't function at all. So what the court should give us is exactly "another five years of litigation."
1
I just don’t understand with all the technology we have today that we can’t register who is here and give them a temporary work visa. Get them in the system and if they commit a felony we know where they are and can deport them. Otherwise we have chaos and anarchy. Citizenship needs to mean something and with the Congress focused on impeachment it will never happen and these issues will continue to fester. I only hope a common sense approach is enacted. Illegals need to know they broke the law and cannot be rewarded for this, then what is the incentive to follow the law. Commit a crime should be a non-negotiable, deportation. If you came here illegally you need to get legal, and the refugee laws should be for legitimate refugees not just because you want a better life.
1
Most dreamers are no longer children and they are not special. They are some 11.2 immigrants just like them that entered the country illegally. Having a catchy marketing name like “dreamers” doesn’t change this fact.
I worked on DACA petitions. Plenty of those petitioners needed help “cleaning” up to make successful petitions. Whether it was an assault on a girlfriend, bar fights, or DUIs that needed to be expunged off their records. Or, encouraging them to attend community college classes to fulfill the education piece. They typically didn’t even write their own petition letters, professional wordsmiths told them how to write a successful letter through many drafts. It felt like a ruse to work the system. Many weren’t even grateful, in fact, they felt like it was owed to them. We have plenty of entitled “children” in this country. We don’t need to add ones that also believe it’s their right to circumvent laws and believe their so unique and special that laws don’t apply to them.
10
If the Supreme Court decides to end this program and puts people in harm's way, then there is no collective wisdom to be had anywhere in America and America will lose one of the better ways of cultivating potentially better future citizens who offer more than the native grown dross America is suffering from currently.
1
During the first year of the Trump administration the president was trying to negotiate a deal with the Dem's about border security. The Dem's wanted amnesty for 600,000 DACA people. Trump wanted funding for a border wall. The Dem's were hesitant, so Trump went against his own supporters and said he would legalize 1.8 million DACA immigrants, far more than the Democrats had asked for, in exchange for border wall funding. At first Schumer seemed ready to go along with the deal, then the Dem's supporters put pressure on him to reject the deal. If the Dem's were willing to compromise they could have saved all the dreamers. But they weren't. And here we are.
It's pretty clear the Democrats don't want any kind of border security. They just want to flood the country with illegal immigrants in an effort to change the demographics and try to gain permanent political power.
At the same time, the Dem's are allowing the country to be flooded with criminals and drugs flowing across the southern border, that are killing tens of thousands of Americans a year. I'm beginning to think a lot of these open border politicians, like the Democratic presidential candidates, are in the pocket of the Mexican drug cartels. When politicians turn against their own citizens the way the Dem's have, something's wrong. Someone's paying them off.
5
The article fails t mention what really happened when Trump tried to end the program. He gave the Congress a whole year to come up with a legislative solution and they failed. They failed over one issue. The Democrats demanded a path to full citizenship and the right to vote. the Republicans want them to get permanent resident status which would not allow them to vote. There in a nutshell is the reason we are here. It is about POWER and the DACA members are just pawns. Also, I believe the Democrats wanted to keep the issue alive for the 2020 election rather than hand Trump a victory. It is nice to know that even the opposition admits he had the right to.
4
I am gasping at the bald display of obsequiousness to the Executive by Kavanaugh. To say he is an intellectual lightweight is probably a generous interpretation of his statement. If it weren't so shocking it would be comical.
He embarrassed himself in his Hearing and he continues to do so now. In the following statement he demonstrated he relinquishes his duty to consider the merits of the case to come to his own decision, and throws his vote to Trump.
"“I assume that was a very considered decision,” Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh said of a second set of justifications offered by the administration in a memorandum last year after its decision to end the program was challenged in court."
3
The decision to create DACA was well meaning but unfortunate since it will be eventually challenged at the Supreme Court. DACA opponents claim that their birth parents came here to take advantage of US birthing laws which are unique in the world but does nothing for those born here of illegal residents. US congress should change this law to clearly define what constitutes automatic US citizenship. If this is passed Illegal immigration involving childbirth citizenship status in the US would be clearly defined and in sync with the majority of nations around the world.
4
@Voter The 14th Amendment gave birthright citizenship a place in the US Constitution. Any change will require another amendment to the US Constitution. Good luck getting that to happen.
1
Elections have consequences. If you care about people or world peace or the environment, vote for the Democratic alternative to Trump, or be prepared to read more stories like this.
1
All problems related to undocumented people in America (DACA, health coverage, ICE, etc, etc, etc) can be traced back to one single source
A porous Southern border.
In fact, the single biggest problem this country has on its hands (Donald Trump as its president) can also be traced back to a porous Southern border.
I don't have strong opinions as to how it should be done but I do know that securing that border is essential
8
In the president’s own words he is using the law to deport DACA residents in order to gain a political advantage having said he will use that opportunity to get the democrats to bargain with him. This man has shown little regard for the law in the past especially with his many appeals to the courts to sue his opponents into submission only to gain his own advantage. It is an abuse of the justice system of the highest order in the DACA case. This will certainly exacerbate the precedent of what is already the wild wild west in the court system of weaponizing the law rather than appealing to our better judgement and respect for each other.
1
(1) The fact is that our society as a whole (liberals and conservatives alike) gave the impression to would be illegal immigrants that they were welcome here. Conservative farmers and even Trump hotels hired them, no questions asked. And now, all of a sudden, conservatives change their tune. A reader mentioned the principle of "injurious/detrimental reliance". Though not strictly applicable to my point, I think that something akin to detrimental reliance is at play here. (2) Hasn't our society benefited by and large from the cheap labor provided by illegal migrants?
3
We have all, each one of us, received gratis our citizenship and its benefits either by being born in this country without our knowledge and consent or through naturalization through several legal arrangements. Let our representatives in Congress do their job of granting residency and eventual citizenship to the DACA folks and other legal immigrants just as we and our ancestors have received them. This is a vast country with almost unlimited resources for the present and the future. We have the money and means and can continue to support millions more of immigrants as in the past just as other countries have done and continue to do so to help our neighbors in need. "When I was a stranger, you took me in." Let not the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah fall on us. Indeed, we are our brother's keeper.
3
Not many positive things to say about this one other than it is yet another political miscalculation from Trump and the GOP. It is now up to the people, and most support the program, to make sure that they feel it. I hope that they are faced with the fate of thousands of people brought here as children and deported to a country they barely remember or know. If you get that across to people, most will understand that this is absurd and it is all downhill for the GOP and their judges from there.
4
If the article is going to indicate the philosophical leanings of the Supreme Court justices, shouldn't it include who appointed the lower court judges whose decisions are being appealed?
3
Schumer and Pelosi were ready to strike a deal two years ago.
Then they walked away from the table, because some liberal judge intervened in what was rightly a political, not judicical, process.
The sooner DACA ends, the sooner a comprehensive immigration deal with actual border security will be signed.
That is, of course, if Democrats actually care about DACA recipient as people instead of bargaining chips.
6
It is hard to believe that the Supreme Court won't do exactly what it did in the census question case -- find the administration's pretext for the cancellation to be inherently unreasonable, while at the same time affirming that Trump has every right to cancel the program for bona fide reasons.
This is an extremely popular program, and even Trump is so sympathetic to it that he has angered his own base by defending it.
1
Elect a blue wave Congress/Presidency next year, add two more seats to the Supreme Court, and then pass a tidal wave of progressive legislation. Play as hardball as the conservatives.
8
I will vote for the Presidential candidate who states he or she will return all executive orders and every republican bill that passed plus increase the number of supreme court justices and create a balanced views.
2
DACA applicants were told of the risks of applying and that a new government could have a different outlook on the program and end it. They were advised of the risks of the government having their information. They knew it was only a 2 year reprieve, but they would be allowed to work. It was a legal obligation to tell them before they signed - something like the fine print on all contracts. None thought twice because they wanted it as a step to permanent status, which then would allow them to get their parents in too. How do I know? Because I did applications and we were instructed to advise them of the drawbacks of DACA. They can’t now claim that relied on something they were explicitly told not to and even signed as such.
2
So what? Just because they knew that later a cruel, administration could kick them out, does not make that cruelty morally right. Try to zoom out and develop some values!
1
After 60 years of immigration laws that have so obviously not served the country well, we need a set of completely reworked pragmatic immigration laws that corresponds to the nation's future needs.
There are many historically "lands of immigration". There are many things to learn from other laws that have worked better, to copy what has and reject what hasn't.
Time for the people and Congress to stop thinking a President, any President, can or should ever define any legislation again. That is fundamentally not their Constitutional role.
Time for Congress to finally stop playing partisan games on both sides and do their jobs for the whole nation. Maybe start with a bipartisan group to study the issue and make a bipartisan proposal.
Why not have a temporary parallel solution (official residency & work permits but not citizenship) for those who can prove they have been in the country for 10 years and are willing to sign up.
6
One of the most brilliant lawyers I ever met (who has appeared more than once before SCOTUS), told me there is no such thing as compassionate conservatism, it’s a contradiction. That was a long time ago, and the words ring in my head today.
21
@AAA
Why should laws be "compassionate"? They need to be complete. just, fair, enforceable but most of all apply equally to all people.
Words like compassion are emotions that can be interpreted differently by each individuals. This is especially true of the world "compassion" that some use to mean that a select few are not subject to the laws that all others are subject to.
11
@Si Seulement Voltaire Your position seem to support my point; that some believe the law has no room for compassion.
1
Since Trump said in a tweet that if the Supreme Court upholds his decision to terminate DACA he will work with Democrats to enact a program to protect Dreamers. So the net result of a Supreme Court decision overruling the lower courts which overturned Trump's termination would be to resume DACA. So in either case, according to Trump, the Dreamers would find protection. So if the Supreme Court decision either way will have no lasting effect based on Trump's promise, the Supreme Court should dismiss the appeals or cert. petitions as improvidently granted thereby reinstating the lower court injunctions against the DACA termination.
3
We need a permanent system in place so we don't have to lurch through the same issues every 10 years as new generations of dreamers reach adulthood.
In a more humanitarian administration, the dreamer question would have been dealt with differently.
But without a long term policy set in place by law, future generations of dreamers are subject to the whims of future, and corrupt administrations as they are experiencing now.
16
The white supremacy of the Federalist Society wins again.
28
Justice Gorsuch said he assumed this was a "considered decision" by the president. Sure. Just as considered as when Trump considers and adopts the Ku Klux Klan-like policies advocated by his senior advisor Stephen Miller.
49
We all know Trump is a villain. What I hope people realize is, Mitch McConnell stole Gorsuch’s seat from Merrick Garland AND Susan Collins betrayed her constituents when she voted for Kavanagh. Trump, Collins and McConnell should be voted out in 2020. We need a blue wave to counter these far right wing judges that have been installed by a lawless and corrupt group of republicans against the will of the American people.
52
This is just like the story of the tree, allowed to grow, and remain for several years. Suddenly, there is a realization that it was an obstruction, and deciding to cut it down.
For all the years the Dreamers have been in this country, growing up, if only Congress had taken up the matter. That did not happen. It is the same question for those millions of people who are here. with no legal status. The only problem these people, together with the Dreamers have is that they are all undocumented. Why do we not correct it?
In this Opinion, there are arguments supporting the Dreamers. which are fair and justifiable. The SCOTUS should consider the plight of the Dreamers, on humane grounds.
7
I cannot see how there was once a legal mechanism to enable child victims of Federal bureaucracy to work and obtain a higher education, but now because it is too aged a program will terminate.
I cannot figure this out.
The undocumented Adults who were once children who had no ability to contract, to make choices, to obtain a social security number, came into the country due to their parents' livelihood as seasonal workers, are now going to have to vacate the country?
I don't understand.
Are the undocumented persons under the age of sixteen going to be entirely disregarded because of their lack of documentation and therefore will be deprived entirely of any possible state/federal social services? (not in California of course).
Is this cancellation of DACA going to be a state by state "condition"?
Is the termination of DACA, going to prevent persons now in that program from obtaining US Citizenship?
Could the Supreme Court rule in anyway which would assist those seeking citizenship?
3
I am highly sympathetic to the immigrants now protected by DACA. That's why I urge Congress to enact, forthwith, a bill that would extend protections against deportation to them on an indefinite basis. There's no reason why this bill cannot be enacted promptly. It would have bipartisan support and even Trump has indicated he might sign it.
In fact, there is such a bill under consideration: S. 874, H.R. 6, and H.R. 2820. Write, call, email, and bother your Senator and U.S. Representative and ask him or her to support these bills and to push them into law.
14
@CastleMan
Piecemeal immigration laws will solve no problems. The problems will simply continue with each generation.
“I assume that was a very considered decision,” Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh said of a second set of justifications offered by the administration in a memorandum last year after its decision to end the program was challenged in court."
This, of course, because the administration has a record of making considered decisions and telling the truth about its actions and intentions. Something with which Kavanaugh would be well familiar, having been the paragon of honesty in his confirmation. The circle of cruelty and partisan intent has been closed. Now justices are foolish enough to claim that they trust the Administration to abide by tweets indicating that Dreamers wil be protected from deportation, as if those tweets have had any effect on decisions beyond the immediate news cycle or immediate political gain. Shall those facing deportation in the coming weeks use those useless and cynical tweets as defense in court? Shall we as a people trust the words of a man who has more than 14000 lies in less than three years? Shall our consciences be assuaged by the empty words of a Supreme Court hand picked to commit cruelty when they state that no cruelty is intended?
We are responsible, all of us. Until this man and his legacy of cruelty is gone, we bear the blame. May we correct our horrible error soon enough not to permanently stain our spirits as Americans.
23
My ancestors fled from Ireland, Scotland and Portugal during the late 1800's and early 1900's. ALL were poor and came over in steerage.
Most of their descendants have done well for themselves and have been assets to the United States. For example, prior to retiring, I was employed as a lawyer at a major NYC law firm. One daughter has two PhDs, and has taught college. The
other (now deceased) was an investment banker. We are hardly unusual.
I'd bet on the immigrants proving to be a boon to the United States.
I
22
This is just more of Trump’s Make America White Again policy. The Constitution does not allow army funding for more than two years, but we have an Army considered to be a perpetual institution, with funding renewed annually. Is the Army unconstitutional?
Making 700,000 people suffer for no reason is another sign of the sickness of our Republicans, as is the 2 million more uninsured since Trump took office.
21
Letting these people stay will only incentivize more illegal behavior, and in 10 years we’ll have the same problem all over again.
17
Ever look at the demgraphics of Japan?
11
@Robert
I know the "demgraphics" of my adopted country well. Your point?
If you're implying that the US could "run out of people," there is a simple response: LEGAL immigration; something Japan has resisted.
4
“I assume...”
Isn’t a Justice of the Supreme Court expected to base decisions on reason?
14
So we are going to betray the Dreamers just like we did the Kurds. What a country! What group is next?
32
“Chief Justice Roberts added that both the Obama and Trump administrations have said they would not deport people eligible for the program ... ”
Trump also said repeatedly and fervently that Mexico will pay for the wall as well as another 10,000 lies – Trump’s words are worth nothing.
26
A lot of people here seem to be assuming that ending DACA means the absolute worst for those already here... Relax with these assumptions. We’ve seen hundreds of thousands illegals flood into the country in recent years with children assuming they would be given status and therefore as their parents would be able to stay too... how is stopping this completely broken system and incentivized law breaking a bad idea? Something has to change. The Democrats have absolutely no policy on this and are seemingly allergic from even discussing the facts on this... this needs to be done and the outcome has to be humane. Then enforce the laws and fix the immigration policy once and for all. Politically this is going to crush the Dems in 2020. I don't think the media is going to emotionally manipulate the electorate with this like they have relentlessly been trying to.
16
1. How many things in this country are “fair”
anyway?
2. If the Trump administration gets its way there will soon be no immigrants, legal or illegal.
3. Two kinds of comments here, mean (in all senses of the word) and generous. Sad that the former predominate.
12
per justices, won't be deported but can't work legally , get driver's licenses 'and such'. So where does that leave you??
14
I hope they do. It will prove what Republicans have always said: Obama’s implementation of DACA was unconstitutional. Then, we can move on with getting it codified into law like it should have been 6 years ago. And, the Democrats in Congress will have to come clean that they could have made this happen years ago but were playing partisan politics.
14
You are talking about human beings who deserve a shot at dignity. You can have your principles and your laws, I’m on the side of humanity.
Our government is based on faith - pure and simple. This faith is backed by actions, rules, an order, and trust. The least discussed and most important fact that pertains to our current democracy is that there has been a systematic and concerted effort to destroy American's faith in their government by the Republicans over the past 40 years. This latest expected move by the Supreme Court furthers that agenda. The people who signed up for DACA placed their faith in our government - gave our government their names and locations and status to live without fear in the country that many know exclusively. And now they will be rounded up and targeted and removed or made pawns in a game they are not playing. This probable action by the Supreme Court will further erode our faith that this country can render fair and righteous judgement by denying an equal branch of government has the ability to stand in the way of a capricious executive.
As the faith in our institutions diminishes we will revert back to a social Darwinism where might makes right and the wealthy will be the strongest and primary authority. All they had to do was convince enough people that it was some mythical elite instead of them, the citizens of the United States, that were government. And to fight the government elected officials, our representatives, were given the power to destroy it, which they are doing now.
7
What is the Republican party's problem here? Where I came from in California, farms -- many probably run by big corporations, big political donors -- relied on invisible, illegal, labor to get their strawberries, lettuces, celery out of the ground to market. Those farm laborers brought their little kids; the farmers ignored them by and large, and left the counties and state to educate them. Parents and teachers have by and large done a great job with these children, and the young people themselves have earned their keep and right to stay. Many serve in the military. Many are mainstays for their families and communities.
In fact, any time Trump says "they're bad people", I know they're probably pretty useful and respectable (like ambassadors to Ukraine, maybe).
22
@Laura
Farmers in California have a labor "shortage" right now.
Construction in California has a labor "shortage" or construction worker shortage.
We need both types of labor to hold up California.
1
Excellent essay.
1
Everyone can thank Moscow Mitch for blocking Merrill garland such that the conservatives now rule the court when it matters most
18
H.R.6 - American Dream and Promise Act of 2019
Introduced to the House 3/12/2019
Passed by the House 6/4/2019
Talk to Mitch. It’s in his graveyard.
1
If DACA is gutted by the Supreme Court, the US Immigration & Customs Enforcement agency will lose the trust of every immigrant to the country. Why would any person trust agency promises regarding any part of the process, when a program can end on a presidential whim? No one will believe that information given to ICE will be used to process their staying in the US. Instead this will look like a scam to make people easier to find for harassment and rapid deportation. The US should be estopped from any action to discontinue DACA.
7
DACA was an executive order, not a law. It should be cancelled. Not doing so only encourages more illegal immigration. These illegal kids should go and make their countries great again. Even though they were raised here, they still talk about their country and it’s not the US. I know because I taught them. This is what their parents have taught them even the kids who were born here.
16
So after living here for a decade and having friends and family here, they should live under the threat of deportation because they talked compassionately about their country of birth in your classroom. I can’t help but see cruelty in your statement.
3
I'm sad for the kids you taught. who needs teachers with this horrific mentality.
1
Could we use Stefan Sweig as a lead example for creating a better world? Perhaps open borders for all and a world government would suit everyone. At the end of the day we are all people from Earth. So why should anyone be characterized as an immigrant or stranger?
4
Why do Dreamers not think that their parents should be held accountable for their criminal actions? Are there ANY laws the the undocumented don't think they're superior to?
14
They’ve been here for a decade and have friends and family here and just want to live without the threat of deportation. You make it sound like they want to legally murder someone.
1
@Victor Wong Maybe they're just too focused on staying alive. Shamefui, isn't it?
I don't actually think this Trunpie racial purity campaign will work regardless of what the Supreme Court says about it. The country as a whole is nowhere near that retrograde. Prop 187 turned California blue and tossing out 700,000 de facto American kids and their families will have even worse practical ramifications than that. Racists will love it and defend it, then they'll be mystified at the backlash as the rest of the country returns to the 21st Century.
8
“”I do not favor punishing children”” Yeah. Right. I guess not deporting DACA recipients is better then ripping them apart from their parents & locking them in cages—but I don’t see how anyone can survive in this country if they don’t have the right to work, get a drivers license or the like.
The lies and hypocrisy are just beyond the beyond. Why, for example, does Melania have status while others sit in limbo?
It’s painful that Kavanaugh gets to weigh in on this and every other major decision affecting Americans for at least a few generations.
11
Mr. Trump claims he “does not favor punishing children,” but that very action lies at the heart of many of his policies. He has torn children from their parents, held them in cages, permitted discrimination in schools, given them poisoned air and dirty water, reduced the nutritional value of their school lunches, stripped away the national parks which they would have owned, and done nothing to ensure that the climate will sustain human life once they are grown. (I will refrain from commenting on the standard of racist, misogynistic behavior he has modeled.) If Mr. Trump wanted to run on an anti-children platform, he could hardly do better.
14
Supreme Court bought and paid for. Another branch of our Government falls and almost a million people who were promised safety will suffer for it. Hope the Justices have enough sense to Grandfather those already enrolled in the program. To do anything else would be to admit that the US as an immigrant based state is dead.
11
Partisans in robes, politically untouchable and dictating the terms to the rest of us. Reform the Court!
14
It is insane that these people's fates are being determined by executive orders and court rulings because the one body that is responsible for fixing this mess - Congress - is too dysfunctional and juvenile to take care of it.
16
@Vin Maybe somewhat dysfunctional and maybe sometimes juvenile, but more often just self-serving and downright mean.
Now it's up to you (us) to remember that next November...and actually do something about it !
1
Just think back to 2016 when the demagogue Jill Stein was running around the country babbling that Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump were the "same'".
We need better critical thinking skills. And we better take the 2020 election much more seriously.
23
@Will. We need such skills, yes, and also to forget nobodies like Jill Stein. Then we need to actually DO something !
1
It is so sad to see politicization of Supreme Court. There should be a better way to nominate justices; rather than the current model. I know I am going off tangentially here; but it shows everything is seen through partisan glasses, rather than what exactly is the law.
9
Loyalty to Trump is the ultimate goal for many people connected with this administration, and four-member in the Supreme Court won't miss the opportunity to prove their worth. Judge Roberts, on the other hand, never misses the chance to show his humanity, he saved Obamacare from the GOP jaws, and now we hope he will come through again for these Americans at heart (dreamers)who have proven to be more than trustworthy.
13
This outcry for "Rule of Law" over and over from the so-called conservatives is rich considering their defense of the law-breaker in-chief sitting in the white house.
29
If Democrats weren’t busy with their fake impeachment (which is a complete waste of time because the Senate is not going to convict), maybe they could do their job and pass some legislation to help the DACA kids. We have three branches of government. The President does not make law, the Supreme Court does not make law; Congress does.
8
@Don C But the president needs to sign off on the law and he has made it clear he will not. Another bill McConnell will not bring to the floor!
11
Oh sure, and Congress includes the Republican majority Senate so just what do you expect the Dems to pass?
11
Both houses of Congress were under the control of Republicans from 2017 to 2019, yet they couldn’t even come up with a plan for comprehensive immigration reform. Various solutions were put forward for DACA and they were always struck down by hardliners in the administration supported by far-right media screaming about “appeasement “.
So we recognize the issue for what it is: a scapegoated minority being used as a bargaining chip by cynical and/or biased republican pols. This issue is solely about the demonization of a segment of our population. The do nothing Republicans have nothing positive to offer so they have to rely on demonization.
We will all suffer for the bigotry of the current government bit no more than our fellow Americans who happen to be Dreamers. How low will Republicans take the nation?
1
I was lucky enough to not be bussed in King County. The west side (Seattle) implemented it and the east side (Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond did not). That was in the mid-80s. People were protesting like crazy!
Of course, I solved the problem of my lack of culture by joining the US Army were I learned that the only color allowed was green and had the privilage of serving with people of many different real colors of the rainbow. That's the great thing about the army. They don't ask you your oppinion on such matters— they give it to you! But don't forget, the army is a dictatorship, not a democracy. What works well there might not work well here.
7
Illegal immigration is wrong. So was, and is, American policies in Mexico and Latin America that created Right wing fascist regimes that created poverty, inequality and violence driving millions to cross the border.
Be kind and fair. Give these dreamers each a half a million dollars and send them to their home countries.
6
So they can be kidnapped, robbed, raped and killed for that money right? Their HOME is the US. If you came here as a 2yr old toddler, what exactly would you do in Bolivia, not knowing the first thing about that country. These kids are fully integrated, 'productive' Americans. What is the big deal?? The entire country was founded on such people.
13
@Me Find out how many will take the money and go back to do some good. Just escaping these countries while their system disintegrates is not the answer.
OK, 20 and 30 year old Americans, still think it doesn’t matter who you vote for or if you even vote. This is all on you, you stayed home, you didn’t vote. I say deport them all, let the conservative farmers do their own manual labor.
7
I truley don't understand why people think that either the enactment or enforcement of Immigration law is the purview of the Supreme Court. Its startling
14
So an American promise from a president is only good until the next president arrives and throws it away?
Some democracy!
24
We are no longer even a sham democracy, but an oligarchy. It hope we can elect Bernie. It’s our last chance to join the civilized world.
4
This is Trump's nightmare -- that the Supremes ok his decision to end DACA and now he has to act to satisfy his supporters. I believe he was hoping all along to be precluded by the courts from ending DACA and deporting the "dreamers". If the Court says ok to it, Trump now is faced with a decision he hoped never to have to make. All he really wanted was to put on a show of trying to end DACA for his supporters, but whine that the Deep State was preventing it. If that option is gone, it's all on him and he won't like it one bit.
15
Ahhhh, the joys of America in her fading days as a nation of laws. The GOP congress fails to act because they don’t want to hand Obama a “win”, who in turn tries to break the policy gridlock with an Executive Order, and a Conservative court inevitably sides with the do-nothing Republican legislators.
This government has failed, we deserve to collapse as a country. Just bummed for my kids.
24
Good luck developing new primary care or hospitalist physicians and registered nurses without the dreamers. I don't see too many of our "best and brightest" standing in line for these careers - not when you can go into tech or law and make more money. Not to mention caregivers for our aging population.
21
It is quite interesting that congress refuses to tackle the real issue. We need immigration reform. Some want it both ways. They are willing to have cheap labor but that person cannot have a path to citizen ship. Most opponents do not want the menial jobs many of the immigrants currently take. If we really want to stop immigration, we can do it. Just enforce E-Verify. Hire an undocumented worker, and you get a $25,000 fine. Immigrants would very quickly not be able get work. Industry wants cheap labor. Some politicians don't want them voting. The truth is that we need their labor. Some of us just don't want them voting or getting medicaid or other services. The truth is that they pay more into the our non-system and take out less. Many will never draw social security or receive Medicare. Who is going to pay for SS & Medicare down the road if not the immigrants? Taxes are either going up or benefits down without them. We need realistic reform. It has to start with serious discussions with Congress. If Congress refuses to address the issues in a meaningful way, we need new congressional representatives.
21
@Wayne
Lots of posts blaming Congress. Let's review the facts:
- Trump could've signed a bipartisan deal in the first 2 years of his presidency, when Republicans controlled the House & Senate, that would've given him 25 billion dollars for his wall. All trump had to do was accept a 10-14 year path to citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. at a young age. But thanks to Stephen Miller, trump rejected it, and later went on to shut down the government instead.
- Congress passed the "American Dream and Promise Act of 2019" in June. It went to the Senate and Mitch McConnell has refused to act on it, along with the many other pieces of legislation the House has passed that are sitting on his desk.
Congress & House Democrats aren't the problem here. Trump is deliberately holding DACA recipients hostage, using them as a bargaining chip. And the "do nothing" Republican Senate is helping him do it. It's inhumane.
26
I thought, at the time, Obama did the wrong thing. He gave the Dreamers a temporary stay. Not a permanent one. If the Supreme Court rejects the program, it's not the end for the Dreamers. That will be the time for Congress to do the right thing and pass a law to grant them permanent stay. However, given the Democrats' adversarial positions on everything, I firmly believe the Dems will sabotage this effort. I have no faith in them and the Dreamers should be skeptical. The Dems will demand 100% and will not compromise for 80% and they will do that at the expense of the Dreamers and not think twice about it.
10
@J. G. Smith
- Trump could've signed off on legislation in the first 2 years of his presidency, when Republicans controlled the House & Senate, that would've given him 25 billion dollars for his wall of vanity. All trump had to do was accept a 10-14 year path to citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants brought to the United States at a young age. Guess what? Thanks to Stephen Miller, trump rejected that legislation and later went on to shut down the government instead.
- Also, Congress passed the "American Dream and Promise Act of 2019" in June. It went to the Senate and Mitch McConnell has refused to act on it, along with the many other pieces of legislation the House has passed that are sitting on his desk.
House Democrats aren't the problem here. Trump is deliberately holding DACA recipients hostage, using them as a bargaining chip, and the "do nothing" Republican Senate is helping him do it. It's inhumane.
12
Lots and lots of people come to the United States to study. They are here legally on student visas. When their studies end and their visas expire, they HAVE to leave. I myself was such a student, and left. I was only able to return - again legally - after an absence of four years.
I keep asking myself, why do these people legally here on student visas have to leave whereas if they had come illegally the Democrats would defend them? It makes no sense to say, "you can break the law if the Democrats are in your camp."
I do have sympathy for the DACA people. I hope most of them will be able to stay. But that requires a new immigration law which is both practical and humane.
Creating two classes of immigrants, those that the Democrats will defend and those that the Democrats will not defend, is wrong and immoral.
24
Presumably when you came to the US on your student visa, you were at least a young adult, one capable of making an informed decision about the conditions of your stay. The Dreamers, on the other hand were all children when they arrived here. I have no idea how one could equate the two situations and try to compare them; it’s a completely different set of circumstances. While you got to decide, somebody else got to decide (and continues to decide) for the Dreamers what their lives should look like.
30
We all carry the sins of our parents. That is nothing new. Or should the government somehow make an exception or compensate me because my father drank too much and was abusive?
Letting these people stay will only incentivize more illegal behavior, and in 10 years we’ll have the same problem all over again.
8
This view strikes me as myopic and fatalistic. So, being born into difficult circumstances means you’re doomed to fail in life? we carry the “sins” of our parents means there is nothing we can do to better the situations we’re born into? that’s a very sad vision, and one that’s profoundly lonely. You can continue to feel better about those “illegals” with abusive parents and pretend it’s not your problem to deal with.
I've thought from the beginning that DACA as a terrible bargain for these young people.
They handed over their identifying information, which remains as a permanent record, in exchange for temporary respite from the threat of deportation. DACA did not offer a path to citizenship, nor the rights of permanent residents. They have been in limbo.
Now the flimsy protection DACA offered them is about to be shredded.
Now they can be rounded up easily.
Of course they'll be deported.
I've advocated for years that Dreamers look elsewhere. They have so much to offer. Many civilized nations would welcome them with open arms.
9
The destruction of the democratic republic of the United States of America is, for all intents and purposes, accomplished -- and it was the Republicans who destroyed it.
With voter repression, Citizens United, systematic erosion of the separation of church and state, undermining the functions and structure of our government and the checks and balances mandated by the Constitution, inviting foreign adversaries to pollute political discourse while taking their bribes, forming illicit alliances with corrupt media like Facebook and Twitter, and stacking the courts with anti-democratic ideologues and stooges, they've succeeded in wrecking what the Founding Fathers built.
And perhaps most galling of all: they carry out this destruction while declaring themselves the true patriotic Americans.
25
@GFE they have the sense not to call themselves the true patriotic Americans anymore, though.
When will the US step up and recognize that the Supreme Court is just a bunch of political hacks? The difference between the SC and the House and Senate is that we get to vote for the House and Senate. The current method of appointing SC justices is broken.
25
Not to be simplistic but this charade should have ended as soon as Obama left office. Mistakes were made on all sides. The law takes precedence over sympathy. DACA must end and the recipients cannot benefit any further from this program. If any blame is to be placed then put it on their parents and Obama for creating this debacle. In the interim I would have their applications audited for fraudulent documents that were utilized to justify their claims. Tens of thousands of migrants benefited from fraudulent documents when President Reagan granted amnesty. It appears that nobody wants to take immigration law seriously.
11
It is Trump’s SC and it is a political branch of GOP. Most of the judges act like right wing political hack, They are for the rich and the corporations. Most of the citizens have no trust or respect for SC . Very unfortunate, GOP Supreme Court is of the rich, by the rich and for the rich,
13
Another example of why the absence of US moral leadership has made it so despised an given rise and support to the totalitarian regimes we see today it’s like 1930 all over again
18
If one president ( Obama) could initiate the program by executive order, then it stands to reason that another president (Trump) could end it by executive order. This should be a very simple, non-partisan issue.....I mean, Trump is the worst thing to ever happen to our country, but terminating DACA is clearly under his purview.
15
@GBR Right is right and wrong is wrong.
2
@GBR And we anti-Trumpers can enjoy watching him self-destruct on this issue.
The only way to save DACA is through Mitch McConnel. Good luck with that.
6
Kavanaugh is dumber than I thought if he believes that Trump made a “very considered decision” on this, or any other complicated issue facing society. Trump himself has admitted as much
34
@Dr E
Trump doesn't read. How does any decision that he has ever made qualify as a considered decision?
If, as the Republican justices seem to think, none of the now completely illegal Dreamers are going to be deported, what is the point of denying them the ability to work, attend college, get drivers licenses, and so on? I thought conservatives’ main problem with illegal immigrants was that they’re leeching off “hard-working taxpayers,” aka white Trump supporters. Turns out it’s because they have brown skin and speak Spanish? What a surprise.
15
It appears our government cannot be trusted. McConnell has done a good job of not being a senate majority leader but used Trump as his means to plug the judicial branch. How do we rid ourselves these horrible men? What has happened to honor? American values are dying slowly everyday while Trump is in office and with this GOP, McConnell, the royal rule changer, may give Trump a 3rd term ending America one and for all.
10
We rid them by getting out to vote in droves, especially in red states, such as Florida.
9
What part of deferred do you people not understand.
13
The supreme court is supposed to be ruling on matters of law. So, if they end the program, it's because one president's executive order can be ended by a subsequent president as a matter of LAW. Rather than rail at the supreme court, supporters of DACA should be blaming congress for the mess that these young people find themselves in. It's not up to the supreme court to find a solution - like green cards or a path to citizenship. It's up to congress. The protesters need to be outside congress, not SCOTUS.
The long term issue seems to be ignored here as well. This is a tragedy that will keep happening if these people are NOT subject to repatriation. Once people know that if they bring kids in illegally they are safe from deportation, that's exactly what they will do. Believe in incentives and stop incenting people to do this.
18
Actually each president cannot end previous presidents’ programs merely because he disagrees with the policy. A logical analysis needs to show the advantages of the change.
Policy is not the president’s plaything.
5
For this program the Dreamers had to be minors who entered the US no later than 2007. It was not designed for newer immigrants.
1
The administration made no justification to end DACA and simply said, it is illegal. A supreme court that accepts that statement without an argument, without justification, declares itself to be partisan beyond extreme.
12
@anthony60
Being illegal is a justification since the president is required to uphold the law.
3
Sadly, the left has figured out how to control Chief Justice Roberts. He has been in DC so long that he has lost sight of his actual job and become obsessed with his Washington personae. Thus, the best way to reach Roberts is to threaten his legacy. In every case the left threatens they will label him the judicial equivalent of Pontius Pilate, and that sends Roberts scrambling for a place to hide.
In this particular case Roberts has already signaled his intent. The Court will rule that Trump has the power to end DACA, but will also rule that it would be unfair to expel those who relied on the earlier policy.
When seeking conservatives to nominate for the Court, we should be wary of those who display an unusual need to be popular. The Scalia-type is our most reliable option.
7
Far better to be remembered for a virtuous decision than to be remembered as a Republican. Sadly those two seem to be mutually exclusive at this time.
5
The issue here is that Congress has consistently failed to do its job and change the law to protect the Dreamers. When Obama created the program, it was an example of executive overreach. When Trump reversed Obama, he gave Congress six months to fix the problem. They dithered until the end, and, just when they were getting ready to solve the problem, they were let off the hook by an injunction from another court. Now the string has run out. Congress needs to do its job and pass a law regularizing the status of the Dreamers. That is what 80% of the people want. Strange we can't get 51% of the Congress to act accordingly.
21
How quickly Trump supporters forget. Congress made a deal to create a path to citizenship with his majesty. Then, Stephen Miller whispered in his ear and Trump reneged on his agreement, which I can't remember Trump ever doing before (hah!!). Now, he and all his supporters want to place the blame at Obama's feet. Of course, the dreamers were people that had been brought in during multiple President's terms, Republican and Democratic. Congress stonewalled Obama on the issue. But, don't let the facts get in your way.
7
Lots of dishonest posts falsely blaming Congress (specifically House Democrats) are swarming the comments section. The timing of all these posts right before public testimony for the impeachment inquiry is suspicious. So let's review the facts:
- Trump could've signed a bipartisan deal in the first 2 years of his presidency, when Republicans controlled the House & Senate, that would've given him 25 billion dollars for his wall. All trump had to do was accept a 10-14 year path to citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. at a young age. But thanks to Stephen Miller, trump rejected it, and later went on to shut down the government instead.
- Congress passed the "American Dream and Promise Act of 2019" in June. It went to the Senate and Mitch McConnell has refused to act on it, along with the many other pieces of legislation the House has passed that are sitting on his desk.
Congress & House Democrats aren't the problem here. Trump is deliberately holding DACA recipients hostage, using them as a bargaining chip. And the "do nothing" Republican Senate is helping him do it. It's inhumane.
4
The country allowed millions of people, who entered illegally, to stay and provided them and their children with many benefits to the detriment of legal, taxpaying citizens (schools are overcrowded, insurance premiums rise, etc). DACA granted temporary deferral; a decade is long enough and more than generous. Don't blame the government or even Trump, blame the parents who exploited the system.
26
I support the children who are now adults, who came to our country and grew up here. I support them staying here. They are us. I do not support deporting them. Why? We raised them, we educated them. They are us. If you want to address immigration laws, I suggest strongly you do not do it because of political short term power grabs. Nothing will change if you choose to deport them. They will want to come back home, and we will demand it.
12
Folks need to look at the big picture: who will fund Social Security for you in the future if we keep deporting hardworking well-educated immigrants? (Who are involved in crimes less than native-born US residents.) With millions of Boomers retiring and the US at near-peak employment we need all the workers we can get to pay into the system. Unless you would like to take the whole system down that keeps seniors from poverty in their "golden years". That's next on the Republican agenda.
10
@Patricia FYI a Dreamer cannot have ever been involved in crime.
2
Lots of dishonest posts falsely blaming Congress (specifically House Democrats) are swarming the comments section. The timing of all these posts right before public testimony for the impeachment inquiry is suspicious. So let's review the facts:
- Trump could've signed a bipartisan deal in the first 2 years of his presidency, when Republicans controlled the House & Senate, that would've given him 25 billion dollars for his wall. All trump had to do was accept a 10-14 year path to citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. at a young age. But thanks to Stephen Miller, trump rejected it, and later went on to shut down the government instead.
- Congress passed the "American Dream and Promise Act of 2019" in June. It went to the Senate and Mitch McConnell has refused to act on it, along with the many other pieces of legislation the House has passed that are sitting on his desk.
Congress & House Democrats aren't the problem here. Trump is deliberately holding DACA recipients hostage, using them as a bargaining chip. And the "do nothing" Republican Senate is helping him do it. It's inhumane.
12
The Supreme Court has two members who have lied to gain their seats. And for reasons I can not understand view reality from the lives and decisions created and sustained within the Washington DC community - one that is not truly reflective of the population of the country. Like the framers of the constitution, maybe they should be required to actually spend time and live in the different parts of the country they represent. Imagine - it's November, so the supreme court will take up residency in Alabama for 3 months. When they will understand the impact of "We the People", not just the people dipped in gold. Of course that’s a dream. Dreams have no place in the Supreme Court, certainly not like the power lies hold.
3
It is not to late to cut a deal on immigration: DACA and an increase in total legal immigration in return for the wall and a curtailment of family based immigration.
7
In these Thanks giving days approaching...
Thank you for the tomatoes.
Thank you for the potatoes.
Thank you for the beans.
Thank you for the squash.
Thank you for the corn ( 7000 BC Mexico )
Thank you for the peppers.
Thank you for the chocolate.
Thank you for the coffee.
thank you for vanilla.
Thank you for the cotton ( 5000 BC Mexico )
Thank you for everything .
Thank you South America and Mexico.
9
They were brought here as young children - the only game they probably knew how to play was ring around the rosy. Not their fault.
6
@Sally
Not our fault either. It was their parent's fault. Maybe they should sue them.
7
The hidden problem -- DACA, legal and illegal immigration-- is the carrying capacity of the U.S. landmass has likely been exceeded. The capacity diminishes with each additional person. The situation is exacerbated by climate change caused phenomenon including increased aridity, decreased flow in streams, wildland fire, changes/reduction of soil fertility, and etcetera. Far too much attention and effort focused on immigration of all try types. Far too little attention of the biogeophysical limits to growth of the human endeavor. The situation will be broadly recognized in the future following the effective depletion of the global petroleum resource. Then what?
12
@Just So: Global warming alarmists are fundamentally dishonest, almost across the board, because they fail to address the one most important facet contributing to it: an ever enlarging population. I asked a supposed climate expert from the UN about this issue and wondered why it wasn't front and center in the IPCC report. The reply was, "Well, we feel that with proper education the population issue will take care of itself." What insane naivety.
2
“Good faith” matters not at all - especially in our “most Christian” country.
What would Jesus do? Everything welcoming to those children we have already upheld and supported!
How ironic. The moment these young people are ready to step forward, and be productive (ie. profit making) members of society, we get ready to ditch them, and send them back to countries they do not know.
Close minded stupidity that only damages the country!
6
@GWBear
What Would Jesus Do?
That old crutch for those who cannot make a logical argument?
Or lost one?
Are you that desperate?
3
Headline: Supreme Court Narrow Majority Empowers Openly Corrupt President to Expedite GOP-Supported Phase-Out of Humanity
10
I'm revolted, pure and simple. Trump, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh are all grotesque cynics who have routinely relied on their own class privilege to succeed and as such they are blind and dumb when faced with legitimate merit. Everybody with a heart and everyone who cares about the future of this country is rooting for DACA.
11
Alito and Roberts are just as bad.
1
President Trump has never said he would deport DACA children.
5
@Dr. John Its not what you say but what you do that matters. He is known by his works, not his words. Not saying is just that, not saying.
2
@Dr. John
And it is very unlikely there will be any increase of deportations among the DACA crowd at all, but illegal immigrant advocates love to fearmonger and call people racist because their positions are basically nonsense on their own.
4
Hey Pence,
This is a Christian thing to do?
Trump,
Who’s going to run your resorts?
Upstate Farmers,
Who will help you run your farms?
Trump Pence have to go. Not the Dreamers!
10
Dems had a chance to save this program 2 years ago and they chose not to, so this is on them
12
@NYC Dweller Lots of dishonest posts falsely blaming Congress (specifically House Democrats) are swarming the comments section. The timing of all these posts right before public testimony for the impeachment inquiry is suspicious. So let's review the facts:
- Trump could've signed a bipartisan deal in the first 2 years of his presidency, when Republicans controlled the House & Senate, that would've given him 25 billion dollars for his wall. All trump had to do was accept a 10-14 year path to citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. at a young age. But thanks to Stephen Miller, trump rejected it, and later went on to shut down the government instead.
- Congress passed the "American Dream and Promise Act of 2019" in June. It went to the Senate and Mitch McConnell has refused to act on it, along with the many other pieces of legislation the House has passed that are sitting on his desk.
Congress & House Democrats aren't the problem here. Trump is deliberately holding DACA recipients hostage, using them as a bargaining chip. And the "do nothing" Republican Senate is helping him do it. It's inhumane.
8
@Roberta
It is definitely congress's fault. The president doesn't write legislation congress does. Also, this issue has been around much longer than Trump. What was congress doing throughout Obama's 2 terms on this issue?
3
those in congress were elected. who should we be angry with? We should be angry with ourselves.
1
It is a forgone conclusion that the SCOTUS, which causally condones capital punishment, supports Trump's Muslim ban and shows contempt for minorities will rescind DACA, allowing the Trump administration to deport en masse (SCOTUS will feign ignorance).
The SCOTUS rarely rules in favor of the underdogs or the oppressed and the US has made a hobby of vilifying others after invading, destabilizing and destroying their countries.
10
Contrary to your headline, the Supreme Court is not going to "let Trump end DACA." They don't have that kind of authority over a president.
What the Court does have authority to do is say whether or not Mr. Trump, as president, has the Constitutional right to end DACA. That is not granting anyone permission. The "permission." so to speak, will come from the Constitution.
https://emcphd.wordpress.com
11
Obama should have pushed harder for a permanent solution.
17
While the democrats fought over special interest issues, the republicans forged ahead building a powerful conservative political party. They have positioned themselves in powerful position's, in much the same way as when one plays chess and says 'checkmate" there is no place to go and the game is over. The republicans control the courts, and there rulings will most likely be against progressive ideas; (DACA) for instance. They not only have packed the courts, but they packed the governments in most towns/cities/counties/states/and the federal government. It is disheartening because I know that we are going to see this for years to come, then people will forget that once people lived in the land of the free. They will have won.
16
The DACA program was temporary however, it doesn't mean that we must send 700,000 people to countries that they have no rights or roles. Deporting them without a settlement with the accepting country may mean that some at least become stateless and doing that is immoral but apparently not a crime because the USA was not a signatory to the 1954 UN Convention on Statelessness.
SCOTUS should do the morally correct thing and let them stay. Most of SCOTUS are Catholics. It's important not to let them forget the direction of their moral compass.
9
@St. Thomas
It's not a question of deporting them or not as all the activists try to portray it. There is no plan to deport any of the DACA crowd except under circumstances where they could have been deported even with DACA. That argument is just an evasion of the real question being decided.
3
Mr. Trump, you are a tough, hardened criminal. You should be deported back to Germany or Austria, or wherever you claim to be from.
34
If we were to deport dreamers, we would certainly cripple our economy.
This is a stupid move by Trump and republicans.
12
Trump wants to end DACA.
He can then force the Dems who do not want the Dreamers deported to fund his wall in exchange for legal resident status for the Dreamers.
This is a typical Trump negotiating tactic.
Trump had wanted to repeal ACA to force the Dems to negotiate with him on a different heath care program.
5
Why is it so hard for bleeding heart liberals to understand that the US sets its immigration policies not illegal aliens?
34
@Reader In Wash, DC
Like Melania and her chain immigration family?
9
@Reader In Wash, DC
Because this administration has set its immigration policies on the basis of racist animus.
9
@galtsgultch
Yes, that is the current immigration unfortunately.
1
Chinese immigrants can literally buy their way into the United States, Mexicans can't earn their way in.
17
@Ralph Braseth
That's not true. There are no preferences for Chinese immigrants and we get twice as many immigrants from Mexico as we do from China even though China's population is much greater.
6
don't forget Russian immigrants. they also buy Visa's. they also have Anchor babies at the trump properties...
5
@Kei
Kushners mother and sister were selling CHINESE people visas for something on the order of $50,000 a piece. Please do your homework.
Also see Canteloupe Combover's Russian and Chinese birthing farms, so those kids have a US Birth Certificate, and then can bring their cheating PARENTS over, another version of CHAIN MIGRATION.
How is this not ethnic cleansing? This is more people than the entire population of Wyoming.
15
The Roberts Court is, quite possibly, the worst and the most divisive since the Taney Court, which helped pave the way for the Civil War.
Roberts is supposedly interested in the Court's history and its reputation, and yet, history will be rather unkind to John Roberts and the Roberts Court. Just a short list of cases in which the Roberts Court has been on the wrong side of the Constitution: Citizens United and its progeny; Hobby Lobby; cases refusing to address gerrymandered congressional districts; cases allowing the government to erode voting rights, civil rights, employee rights and women's rights; plus a slew of cases emanating from Trump's lawlessness.
19
The Roberts court has an active hand in hastening the destruction of the Earth, they’re just ensuring the rich can grab all they can in the time we have left. Why else do ALL republicans behave as though history doesn’t matter?
8
@The Real Mr. Magoo
Excellent point. Roberts = Taney.
4
I read an article in Vox today written by the plaintiff in this case. It was absolutely infuriating. He stated that illegal immigrants were here to stay and they would not be leaving. Neither he nor any other illegal immigrant has any right to make an ultimatum. Look at the pictures at today’s hearing at the Supreme Court. The “Dreamers” are holding signs saying “Home is here.” They are not, however, flying American flags nor are they talking about how much they love this country and its heritage. DACA must end, folks.
32
Why don’t you go back to where your family came from? You have no more claim to the US than any other citizen. Try returning to your home land and see what that experience is like.
5
@FreedomisPriceless So, you would be cool with it, if they were flying American flags, and had some people wearing their former military uniforms?
7
@FreedomisPriceless, you realize, don't you, that DACA recipients include veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces. They (at least some of them) served. I am a naturalized U.S. citizen who came to this country as a child of legal immigrants, and I also served in the U.S. Army.
How about you?
Don't trust the government, it never kept the promises given the American Indians, it does not keep promises made to the American people. Laws are written and voided in short order. LBJ's great society lasted barely 15 years and the government tore it up, piece by piece, not much of it is left. Even SS benefits are being cut, just a little at a time, while trillions of $$$ are invested in TB as required by law to be used to keep the debt lower. See ACA, as little as it is they kept voting and voting to repeal it, now they try to cut funding and will go all the way to the SC to destroy even the little gain. It is what a corrupt government does.
8
A Supreme Court Justice is not supposed to just assume the executive branch made a “very considered decision.” Are they?
9
@Rock On Justices of the Supreme Court are to follow the Constitution regardless of whether or not a president’s decision is “very considered.” Presidents have made bad decisions before that were still constitutional.
1
@FreedomisPriceless
Actually, whether the decision was "considered" or arbitrary and capricious goes to the very heart of the legality or illegality of the administration's actions.
1
Mitch McConnell and the rest of the GOP don't deserve to ever find peace on this planet.
How dare they mess with our democracy. Evil rotten people.
17
The fake president and his fake justices will destroy this nation with their hateful policies. How they have turned against the Founding Fathers of this nation! And of course they identify themselves as Christians. What a joke.
12
When I hear minority communities implore how much Dem candidates for 2020 will do for them, how much more do you need to ask when you see what damage a Trump presidency will do to another minority population?
3
Anything President Obama had anything to do with has been or is being dismantled because a psychologically defective, ignorant, functionally illiterate scammer and grifter has been placed in a position to wreak revenge on the man who saw him for the fraud he is and humiliated him. How very sad that, however wildly he flails and swings, however desperately he tries to erase his predecessor, he will never be the man Barack Obama is.
Spite, jealousy, and vengeance. What a way to run a country.
21
This must be a wedding gift to S. Miller.
7
Bye, bye dreamers! You played a bad game against the decent immigrants who followed all the legal steps necessary to achieve the citizenship.
30
@Trassens Not sure how you expected a 2 or 3 year old child to follow all the necessary legal steps to achieve citizenship. Blame the parents, if you like, but these kids have done nothing wrong. Furthermore, why so gleeful about the potential suffering of others?
11
@Trassens
Jesus, Mary and Joseph. The vast majority were kids brought here by their parents.
4
That will say tons about what America stands for no. !!!
5
“I hear a lot of facts, sympathetic facts, that you’ve put out there, and they speak to all of us,” Justice Neil M. Gorsuch told Mr. Olson.
Then, Justice Gorsuch, rule in favor of Dreamers.Or have you no decency in the end.
9
As with all thing GOP, the cruelty is the point. Shame, shame, shame, a thousand times shame.
11
Don't count on John Roberts, he is Chief Kangaroo.
6
Just make them citizens and move on.
9
@Ethics 101 And move on to what? The next phase of amnesty for their parents? And after that, amnesty for everyone else here illegally? Because when an amnesty for the dreamers is signed into law, the pressure to legalize more will be immediately felt.
9
@Dan
And frankly the problem with that would be what exactly?
2
@E
Don't be ridiculous. But with a more equitable tax code it would not be a problem. And enforce the immigration laws.
1
I'm both surprised and not surprised that the left isn't thinking through the implications of the Supreme Court upholding DACA, as that would mean the Court set a precedent that an Executive Action carries the same weight of a law passed by Congress. All fun and games when it's Obama's EA, but any subsequent president would have that same ability, which means Trump too. The left would be better served hoping the Supreme Court upholds Enumerated Powers in the Constitution, ends the DACA enacted by Executive Action, and take up the issue in Congress.
21
Kavanaugh’s assessment that Trump’s consideration (to shut down DACA) is “considered” and doesn’t require second guessing is completely disingenuous and self-serving. Nauseating
9
This is what you get from a Kangaroo Court.
4
Ending DACA is pure evil. It is like cutting off a limb to prove a point.
7
In my country nationality is based on who you parents are, not where you are born. Even if you are born and raised in Korea you are not Korean unless your folks are.I thought it was not the case for Americans. I thought it took pride in the fact that it is a land of immigrants
7
What else do you expect from a group of Koch Industry trained Federalist Society Royalty who still feel blacks are 3/5 of a human for census purposes.
I have no respect for people such as these.
9
I've step back to see the forest for trees. The government of the nation that my father escaped to from Nazi Germany is dying before my eyes. It's already so broadly and deeply infected, corrupted, perverted, damaged and destroyed by trump and his minions that it will take generations to rebuild and return to service. The nightmare began for me when trump spread filthy lies about immigrants. I've been devastated since our government has been rounding-up Latino infants and kids into concentration camps that psychologically destroy and effectively torture most of them. Trump and Stephen Miller are working to ethnically cleans our Country. We quickly became protested out, and we have moved-on from the Mueller Probe to Impeachment and the 2020 election. I don't know how many immigrant lives are being destroyed and extinguished as a result of the personal hatred and tactical abuse of immigrants. America is being destroyed, and defenseless immigrants are at the head of the line for the trump administration's heinous cruelty and injustice.
6
@B Major
Not to mention all the "rollbacks". It will take at least a generation to right the ship.
2
To be honest, I place a lot of the blame on this mess, including the kids in cages, on the illegal immigration lobby which has made it clear they simply want immigration law not to be enforced. Not today, not any day, not ever. I don't understand how progressives who are so quick to sharply criticized the Israeli lobby absolutely would have to be waterboarded to criticize the illegal immigration lobby. we are in a situation where we are being held hostage by nationals of other countries and their unreasonable and self-serving demands which seemed endless and which they expect us to capitulate to unconditionally and eternally. I can't fathom why those like Ilhan Omar and Primila Jayapal who pride themselves on denouncing the Israeli lobby are so quick to call anybody who criticizes the legal immigration lobby-which demands the right to make choices that affect everybody based on what's best for just Hispanics- racist.
34
"we are in a situation where we are being held hostage by nationals of other countries and their unreasonable and self-serving demands which seemed endless and which they expect us to capitulate to unconditionally and eternally." We are? Please provide some backup proof from a reputable source. Also, I'm having difficulty seeing the relevance of your reference to some anti-Israel lobby. Please explain.
3
I’m shocked. No not really about what I’d expect from the Republican hijacked SCOTUS.
Next up, suppress the release of Trump’s tax returns. It’s clear the conservatives will do the President’s bidding.
4
And Roberts is a Christian, a practicing Catholic? He's fine with this? I'm not! This country is lost. Even if they end up staying, it's lost. The fact that it could go this far tells me how rotten to the core this country is.
8
We have separation of church and state. Justice Roberts's Catholicism should not be used in making a SCOTUS decision
5
@Gregory Ziegler I know that and Roberts doesn't ever have to announce his religion when pondering a case. He just has to focus on the conditions leading up to this. Mr. Obama was forced to make an executive decision about this because at the time he was over ruled by hate and bigotry and McConnell shall i say, "disliked" Mr. Obama.
Approval of hate and bigotry are not in our constitution but we sure do approve and worship the concepts.
2
In the US, a corporation is more of a person than a DACA person is.
14
This program needs to be ended and those currently in it given a pathway to citizenship. We then need to enforce our laws and initiate the sensible immigration reform that all democrats and republicans have agreed upon at some point. Easy peasy right ?
4
I think it probable that if Democrats worst fears are realized and Mr. Trump is reelected, that DACA will be traded for something that the Republicans want enacted or funded. It is just mud fighting right now. Dysfunctional government for 8 years under Mr. Obama and dysfunctional government for 3 years and counting with Mr. Trump. That said, I miss Mr. Obama's form of dysfunctional government.
4
@NYT Reader " I miss Mr. Obama's form of dysfunctional government."
Much of Obama's dysfunction came from Republican obstructionism. Think Mitch.
Trump's comes from his own incompetence.
8
California should proclaim the act of secession (e.g. declaration of independence)and give citizenship
to DACA in a new Country. One of the best.
5
@s.whether
And what exactly would Ca do for water and power after the Govt turned off the taps and the grid?
15
@s.whether: If California leaves the Union, there go its military contracts... and its economy.
https://emcphd.wordpress.com
9
@s.whether
CA is the only state that could indeed support itself with its energy, agriculture and wealth. And the US economy would certainly take a major hit. Watch what you wish for.
4
Elect a Democratic president with a Democratic Senate majority. Then all this minority rule horror ends. If anyone thinks we are not in a war for the future of this country (and the world) think again.
Elections matter.
I don’t know if I’m angrier with the Trump/Republican plutocrats who repeatedly lie to their constituents, all the voters who couldn’t be bothered to vote in 2016, or those voters who let conservative outlets do their thinking for them.
19
I was one of the original dreamers back in 2012. I was brought to the US by my family in the mid-90s when I was a little kid. DACA gave me a Social Security number for the first time and allowed me to find a job. It completely changed my life.
I have managed to avoid the current circus purely by dumb luck. I found the love of my life over 5 years ago, and the love of my life happened to be a US citizen. We have a beautiful son together and I am thankful everyday that he'll never experience the fear and uncertainty I lived with for more than a decade. I eventually became a permanent resident and I am expecting to become a US citizen next year, hopefully just in time so I can register and vote against Trump.
My heart really breaks for my fellow dreamers. You shouldn't have to live in a society where love and luck guide your immigration prospects. You deserve a society that values your talents and contributions, that understands why you're special and what have to offer. Hopefully the political winds shift next year and a new administration can intervene on your behalf. Until then, remain hopeful and keep on doing what you're doing.
36
@Valerian Beautiful post. Thank you!
3
@Valerian Why should any sovereign nation honor people who sneak into it?
4
@Victor Wong
First, most of these adults were kids when their parents brought them here. They had no choice in the matter. I didn't have the realistic option of telling my family, "sorry, not coming with you." So it's downright ludicrous to suggest that they were sneaking into the US. They were just following their families. Basic human behavior 101. I encourage you to read something about it, since you seem unfamiliar with the subject.
Second, there are a million reasons to keep these people here, even if they had actively and consciously violated US immigration laws. Many of these individuals are highly educated; they have useful skills. I'm no longer covered by DACA because I don't need it, but getting DACA back in 2012 made it easier for me to finish my PhD, which gave me the skills I use in my job to this very day. So if you care about this thing called the American economy, you should want the dreamers to stay. These are young people who can be future taxpayers and investors for decades on end; why mess that up? To settle some score because they were in technical violation of some law, even though it was never really their fault? Sounds pretty lame and childish.
trump has recently apparently stated that he will make a deal sith the democrats in congress IF HE WINS in the Supreme court. big deal. this proves that the politicians in this matter prefer to play politics with the lives of persons who made agreements with the USA government. our government then breached the agreement.
why would anyone, especially a foreign government, believe the government of the USA.?
6
@john boeger
Technically they just made an agreement with the Obama admin that (likely illegally) created the program because Obama wasn't willing to negotiate a deal with congress to get it done right. Not their fault but not Americans at large or Republicans fault either.
8
These Supreme Court Justices do not know the basic meaning of the word - Justice.
7
This , my fellow citizens, is yet another example of just how far our nation has strayed from its ideals. We may be on an irreversible downhill slide.
11
@Patrick alexander
No, this is called law and order and democracy vs dictator ship. If the supreme court blocks this they will basically be declaring Obama was a king.
8
@Keith ...sir, at some point, compassion is more important than “law and order”.
By the way , whatever weight your argument might have held was lost when you mentioned Obama.
Still hate him, don’t you?
Get ready for labor shortages in teaching, engineering, nursing, and other vital professions. This is tragic.
7
@Monica
Yeah, horrible. Wages will have to be increased to attract talent absolutely the worst thing ever. Dems need to keep wages low so people don't figure out that supply and demand actually applies to labor too in spite of what all the corporate shills say. That way when they increase the minimum wage they can demand props for solving a problem they created.
16
'... “The whole thing was about work authorization and these other benefits,” the chief justice said. “Both administrations have said they’re not going to deport the people.” ...'
This is to give the Trump administration's representations the same credibility as P Obama's. There's no need to consider the near atrocities of Trump's committed against would-be immigrants and their children to see that the wise course of action is to presume strongly Trump's are false on their face and that d'apres F P Reagan trust will only be given upon verification.
Yes, of course,
1
Herein is the example par excellence of the dangers that lie in government by decree (i.e. "executive order"). What one king proclaims can be undone by the next. Whatever the moral arguments surrounding the thorny question of legal and illegal immigration, subverting the rule of law is dangerous. One cannot rationally argue that Obama had the right to set aside the law by decree, and then that Trump has no right to reverse that decree and enforce the law.
15
@John C.
This is not all about "rights." It is about human decency.
5
@DW Then it had no business before the Supreme Court. Their job is to rule on the law and the Constitution.
6
We have this current version of the Supreme Court and the decisions they render courtesy of McConnell. We'll have to find a way to make changes to the court to bring back the integrity of the institution. And until a better solution for the Senate can be achieved, meaning eliminating it and just having a House, Kentucky will have to do us one more favor and get rid of McConnell. People say Trump is the devil, and he may be, but McConnell, that man is pure evil.
7
Immigration rules have always favored white people. They still do. I’m tired of hearing from people who “followed the rules” and think the same rules apply to everyone.
They don’t and they never have.
There was this process called asylum that helped brown people but we all know how that’s going now.
Following the law and doing the morally right thing are not the same.
I fully support the Dreamers and shudder to think of all of the wasted taxpayer dollars that went to educate them going to waste. How will they pay their college loans back if they can’t work?!
6
What about the fact that the original briefing from the executive was made by an “acting” secretary of homeland security?! That person shouldn’t be allowed to weigh in - the president wouldn’t even give that person the respect of putting them forth for congressional approval! If he were a true stable genius, he would just put “acting” people in charge of everything, people not vetted by congress which “represents” the will of the people, and then just tell them to do his dirty work. Ask Mick Mulvaney how that’s working out...
2
And what did Justice Thomas have to say? The article doesn’t mention.
5
It is interesting listening to the justices wax legislative about a case.
Oh, they say, we'll dictate some "humane" solution.
The problem remains: Granting legal status to these "Dreamers" will obviously promote a repeat in the future. There's no two ways about it. Ten years from now, when another million or more Dreamers materialize, they'll be demanding the same treatment, and they’ll likely get it. That's open borders, folks.
The "adult in the room" solution (that is, the one that faces the reality of this fact and nips it squarely in the bud) would at least preclude a pathway to citizenship. There should not be one for the Dreamers, except in special circumstances (military service, for one), and their law-breaking parents and 1st generation newborns likewise would not be eligible.
There have to be consequences to unlawful behavior. Rewarding the lawbreakers is not it. We're either a nation of laws or we are not.
If the SCOTUS were to strike down Trump's case, forget ever effectively governing our sovereignty and borders from here on out. The illegal aliens will have won, as it is THEY who will be making US immigration policy, not US citizens.
18
I’m all for being a nation of laws. Let’s start at the top and work down.
10
@Melinda Mueller
So,
up there in Canada,
Canadians are tolerating millions of illegals
simply because the guy at the top - Trudeau -
has engaged in corrupt behavior?
Of course not.
The allegations of wrong-doing by Trudeau
are not thrown up as a reason not to enforce Canada's immigration laws.
10
@smacc1
"If the SCOTUS were to strike down Trump's case, forget ever effectively governing our sovereignty and borders from here on out. The illegal aliens will have won"
Ooooh, scary!! More brown people might come!!
4
All those in favor of ending DACA are simply mean-spirited racists. There is noithing else to be said other than the notion, Latinos should go to the polls in 2020 with the clear understanding the Democrats are who they must support, not the Republicans, the Evangelicals, nor the Religious Right.
The Republican Party, Evangelicals and members of the Religious Right want you to believe the issue at hand is getting rid of Abortion, or call it 'A Woman's Right to Chose', but it isn't.
There are issues you need to be informed about, decisions to make and you need to do just that, get informed, understand the benefits of 'safe-sex', young men as well as young women. And get curious. There is a 'medical community' to help you down this path to understanding what is right and wrong.
The Women's Movement has been in existence for decades and decades wanting to help you, direct you, all the while imploring you to act responsibly and understand, You Are Not Alone as you mature and search for what is right and proper.
7
Have we ever had a president who pursued nothing of his own legislatively? Have we ever had a president whose only actions as president are to try to undo everything done by the previous president? -Rachel Maddow
13
A. The GOP have always blocked immigration reform, so we are left with these sub-groupings. B.Now the same politicians are trying to impose harsh rules on those that have met all the requirements to qualify for DACA. C. Come visit Greater Miami, where millions of Cubans were welcomed in after Fidel Castro took over. Many of these people still cannot speak English, waiting on US to learn Spanish. They control every public and private aspect of life down here in their special enclave, and there's nothing more you can say about the situation, either. But that's the immigration system we continue to deal with, based on the politics of the moment. OTOH, treating people with cruel indifference cannot be justified in any book of laws. So while no one wants illiterate people roaming the streets with no job and no desire to find work, a lot of people deserve to live here if they have a set of goals and strive to achieve them. Back "home", their lives could be in danger, with no schools for their kids, food shortages, and perhaps a slim-to-none chance for survival.
People will only come here for two major reasons- work or refuge. But until we design a System for people coming here, I would personally choose to pick those with the greatest need for admission- those in imminent danger. But DACA isn't even worthy of a court decision- if the Republicans hadn't demeaned their human rights in the first place, we wouldn't have to come up with a ton of arguments pro and con now.
4
“I hear a lot of good facts, sympathetic facts that speak to all of us” says stolen Supreme Court seat occupant Neil Gorsuch, as he’s about to send 700,000 bright, talented, hardworking, productive young Americans to be deported to countries they’ve never known.
If we don’t want such people in our country, who do we want?
The extend to which the Republican Party is cruel, mean-spirited and totally out of touch with modern reality is on full display in this hard-right, hardhearted Supreme Court. The only way forward for this country is oust the GOP en Masse at the ballot box. Organize, donate, volunteer, vote.
11
“I do not favor punishing children,” Mr. Trump said ...
Of course not. He seems to prefer grinding them, and their dreams, into the dust. All at the expense of our nation, which will lose a huge pool of talent and potential -- young people whom our tax dollars have educated. It is insane to do that. But hatred, fear and racism lead people to do horrible things.
12
@Malcolm
He just favors deporting and caging them.
4
Whatever happen with the Court, the Democratic Congress will make DACA law in 2021.
4
Holy smokes !!!
I'm in Canada - and DACA is welcome here - there are many streams available, student, worker, entrepreneur. Google for more info.
Yes USA, send us your future. We will gladly welcome them.
17
The likely decision by the "Court" to end DACA --
despite demonstrably weak legal arguments & visible harm it will do to countless individuals / families / businesses / communities --
is shocking but not surprising
It is also a grim omen for any future issues that may come onto the "Supreme" docket
Put bluntly, it is futile to pretend the "Court formerly known as Supreme" is anything but the judicial wing of the RPB ruling apparatus
This development is not new
It began with the outrageous "this doesn't set any precedent" 2000 decision in Bush v Gore to hand the presidency to W Bush
Throughout that regime the "Court" continued with decisions confirming the un-American "Patriot" Act and other rampant extensions of state power
Once Obama was elected, the "Court" took it upon itself to make any such result in the future as unlikely as possible to recur:
Citizens United, which has, as Roberts & crew intended, destroyed the possibility of a US public discourse NOT dominated by the interests of big corporations and wealthy individuals
The RPB refusal to move on the nomination of Merrick Garland was not just an abdication of Congressional responsibility,
it was a brutal attack on traditional practices that sustained a bi-partisan political system
That system is now gone -- and the Republican "Supreme Court" is largely responsible
The Federal judiciary at all levels is now nothing more than a wing of the RPB power structure
The "Dreamers" will not be its last victims
13
What a wonderful Supreme Court we have.
Breaking promises to hundreds of thousands of young people.
How proud we can be of the scoundrels who sit on their (t)rumps in those hallowed leather chairs.
I hope the justices who vote "no" see those broken hearted dreamer faces in their nightmares. Every night from now on.
11
They didn’t promise anything, President Obama’s executive order did.
2
What if Obama had wanted to reverse his own policy?
Would that have been permitted?
10
@noseitall It’s about doing the right thing. Republicans apparently can’t. It’s all about fear, resentment and spite.
4
@kathy lollock they just don't care. And remember, trump is playing the trump game intending to squash any thing that President Obama created. Not to worry, he's walking a very thin line and so are all those old white men who think they'll live forever.
9
This is just sheer dumb. We have large numbers of undocumented immigrants, many of them here from being very young, an aging and declining population would it not be for immigration, and we are taking the most promising and dedicated off a program that benefits everyone. Sure, the Gang of 8 had a good proposal but the House wouldn't allow it so clearly comprehensive immigration reform is nowhere solvable given it is an election and political issue so why not just what makes sense? The US is beyond help in solving things with any use of common sense.
4
DACA could be extended if Trump wanted it. And yes, he doe want to harm children, eg at the border.
4
Given Trump’s constant lies about immigration, including about the dreamers, if they trust what he is saying, they brand themselves as fools and rubber stamps for a hateful, evil autocrat. In particular, the Chief Justice will destroy his reputation. Thomas and the Trump appointments are already seen as they are.
6
Perhaps the GOP should change its name to the ECC, Evangelicals for Cruelty to Children.
9
We owe poor Americans a better deal: They are white, black, Native American, Hispanic, Asian. They are our countrymen. They need paying jobs, health insurance, a chance at a decent life. They (we) have a right to be here. We also have made certain promises to legal aliens and we must honor them.
These DACA people are illegal aliens. They have no right to be here. We owe them nothing, as their countries owe Americans nothing. Deport them if they don't leave on their own.
18
vbering, the DACA recipients, let me remind you, were brought here as children by adults. They have been raised in this country and believing that to be a tremendous gift, cherish it. The program requires extensive background checks, so any accusations that DACA recipients are "hardened criminals" are patently false. It is disheartening to see fellow citizens so hardhearted and unkind.
5
Most dreamers were brought to the U.S. by their parents as children and had no say in the matter. If you were born in a different family, and you had been brought here as a child when you were 10 years old, went to elementary, middle, high school, and college here, and were now working legally in a job, paying taxes, would you have the same opinion?
6
@aj
It's disheartening to see fellow citizens willing to give something that belongs not to them but to all Americans: the right to determines who gets to come to our country.
2
Follow the trail and you will find Stephen Miller, a Jew with Nazi inclinations who prizes White supremacy, and hates people of color. It's documented, just go to the Southern Poverty Law Center Hatewatch section, and read the following. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/leaked-stephen-miller-emails-to-breitbart-directed-race-anti-immigrant-news-coverage/ar-BBWESpg?ocid=spartanntp This is Trump Administration policy. Is this the America you want?
22
Congress has to act to save them. I would hate to be in John Roberts's shoes right now. I agree that this is EVIL and absolutely racist, but as much as I loathe it, I do not see that the Supreme Court Justices have a choice in the matter. they can probably uphold Trump Vader's horrible, evil act and then add in the opinion that a lower court can stop the deportation if they find detrimental reliance and the deportation is stopped through some sort of equitable estoppel? i hope that something like that can happen with the kids. the parents are toast. Sad, but true.
Pres. Obama should not have done what he did. It's awful that this is happening and it makes me sick. Pres. Obama did not think that a subsequent leaders in America would be so evil that they would deport those kids. Well, here we are. The devil himself is at the wheel.
5
@Former Republican Obama did what he could. Republicans can’t do the right thing because their base are racists
3
Send the dreamers home to their birth countries Dreamers should not be rewarded for theirs parents' crimes. 700,000 jobs, school slots, apartments, etc that will to US citizens or LEGAL immigrants who obeyed the law.
16
Pray that you are protected from YOUR parents' worst and perhaps most desperate act.
3
Money is speech.
Corporations are people.
SCOTUS is delusional.
14
Obama should have simply forced this through Congress during his first two years.
5
@ Dr. John
Sure with all the Obstruction of Moscow Mitch. Stop trying to rewrite history to suit your own purpose. It was the sole reason an Executive Order to create DACA was necessary in the first place. America has broken its word again. Thanks GOP!
3
Could we keep the 700,000 hard working dreamers who were brought here as young children and export the same number of lazy, arrogant and clueless home grown Americans who spend their lives feeling sorry for themselves and indulge in bigotry against millions of their own fellow Americans?
18
So Kavanaugh thinks "I said I would" is a "very considered decision" & Gorsuch can't see any point in denying that?
Actually, it might be a good idea if the Supreme Court decided to give Trump what he said he wanted; it could lead to the Dems sweeping the House, the Senate, and the Presidency in 2020 & being able finally to tackle immigration reform in a humane and efficient way, clearing the huge Immigration backlog, abolishing ICE and replacing it with a properly trained force who will focus on crime, giving the Dreamers a path to citizenship, allowing sufficient agricultural workers to enter the country & giving them a path to citizenship, and re-opening the country to asylum seekers.
8
I'm not a lawyer, but... my understanding is that Marbury v. Madison indicates that the court has the power to invalidate laws that they find to violate the Constitution. Somehow this has morphed into its only role. That is, ALL decisions are based on interpretations of the constitution; interpretations that vary significantly over time. Justice, common sense, human rights, or mercy are not considerations.
From the article: “This is not about the law,” she [Justice Sotomayor] said. “This is about our choice to destroy lives.”
Sotomayor is absolutely right. It is time to overturn Marbury v. Madison. Justices should be allowed to write decisions based on a combination of factors: the Constitution, common sense, justice, and mercy.
12
@ShenBowen Is Roberts a mensch or a monster? Stay tuned.
2
@ShenBowen It is time to clean the Court!
1
@ShenBowen -What you may consider “common sense, justice, and mercy” others may have a different definition of. This would only further politicize the courts, giving whatever ideology is in the majority of Supreme Court seats essentially legislative powers. Seriously, think about what you just wrote for a second.
3
If Roberts rules against DACA recipients, he will prove now and forever that there are Obama judges and Trump judges. For the sake of the Court as an institution as well as the dreamers, let's hope he does the right thing.
11
The Roberts Court will have to decide whether it serves the law or serves justice.
11
Anyone who thinks the conservative justices are concerned about the hardships or inequities their decisions are causing is living in fantasyland. These ivory tower judges are quite happy to make decisions that have cruel consequences.
Besides which, this is a political court and it has been since Gore vs Bush.
So much for an independent judiciary.
9
Does anyone mind if I interrupt all the preening moral self-congratulations of the conspicuously compassionate with just a few facts?
1. Trump has never wanted to deport the DACA children. They are bargaining chips in his high stakes poker game with Congress over getting funding for the wall.
2. The DACA children are not the only victims of our broken immigration system. Take my brother-in-law. He applied to immigrate to the US back in 1995 when he was in his twenties. He was approved only a few months ago.
3. The Democrats are AWOL on how to fix the system. They simply have their own arms race to show who is the most compassionate of all.
4. If Obama wanted DACA to be the law of the land, and to bind subsequent presidents, he should have worked with Congress to get it passed into law. Instead he sat on the throne in the White House with his pen and his phone and issued an Executive Order.
20
@Ian Maitland Children = bargaining chips? Not people, just chips? Trump may hurt them, if that's what it takes to get what he does want, but he won't enjoy it. I'm sure he'll only hurt them if he's forced to. Usually we threaten to hurt our enemies, not children.
Have you no shame?
I’m a daughter of immigrants. I don’t approve of people jumping ahead of the line just because i watched how long it took my parents to become citizens. However these DACA kid are an exception. They didn’t ask their parents to bring them over here and over stay their visas and made them all illegal. They are becoming productive citizens of this country, ie going to college and getting jobs that pay much more than their parents who continue to hide in the shadows. They should be allowed to work towards citizenship
13
A decision to end the Dreamer status would rank next to the Dredd Scott decision.
8
and so it seems trump and his hateful agenda will be rewarded once more..... who else would get this kind of consideration from the Supreme Court? certainly not a democrat. now the supreme court sounds like it is ready to legislate from the bench. calling out the terms of treatment for these dreamers in an effort to soften the effects of their decisions and put a fig leaf over the place where their souls should be. why, oh why do republicans twist themselves into knots to serve this disgusting human being? I guess they we're like this all along but now they can don their worst and still look good in comparison to Donald Trump.
3
“Tough hardened criminals”? Once again our President brings the conversation around to himself.
12
@Joe Seamans Trump is disgusting
4
Tough facts often make terrible law.
So does illegitimacy.
An illegitimate president cannot make legitimate nominations and the Senate cannot legitimately approve them.
All appointments to the Federal bench since 1/20/2017 are illegitimate and must be vacated.
9
@Dave T. YES, this is true; impeach the men nominated by Trump, they are all illegitimate! Time to wake up America ; God bless you
4
Just back from Berlin and the deep history embraced by this city in memorials to all the people who were excluded or perished at the hands of the nativists/populists/Aryan protangonists. Some day we will have to own up to our own shameful history if we deport the 700,000 young people embraced by DACA; and the 200,000+ more under TPS. I am ashamed for my country and for the impotence I feel, and experienced by those of us who truly see the need for immigration reform and to be a welcoming nation. My great-grandfather arrived with nothing but skills and ambition, and died a very well-off New Yorker. Today he, and the rest of my kind, would not be welcome here.
9
This appears to be nothing more than an attempt by the Trump administration to fire up his anti-immigrant base that will do far more harm than good
9
Bush’s “compassionate conservatism” sounds like liberal radicalism now ...
7
It would be one thing for the Supreme Court to sanctify Trump's attack on the young and helpless; but it would be entirely another thing if the people stand aside and lets him do it.
Any country that turns on itself is surely doomed. After Trump and his supporters sates their thirst on the young and helpless, which minority group will be next on their list? Muslims? Jews? Asians? The old, the sick and the infirm? It has happened in history before and will happen again if good people stand aside and do nothing.
6
These "conservative" justices are not interested in conserving anything. They are interested in tearing down whatever they can get their teeth into. They are like junk yard dogs turned loose in the neighborhood that used to be America.
The dispossession of 700,000 contributing members of our society is only the most recent horror.
How is it possible that our country is brought so low ethically that a cheap con man, liar, and thief can be optimistic that the Supreme Court will support his efforts to deprive 700,000 human beings of just about everything? 700,000, most of whom are not con men, liars, and thieves.
At least since the separation of families at the border, my first reaction to news about this administration is a wave of actual nausea.
6
The President can pardon crimes, so essentially Obama pardoned DACA recipients for the crime of illegal migration. Democrats sided with the immigrants and republicans are not. I just hope the justices will be as strict when hearing money laundering and bank fraud cases having to do with the presidents family.
4
Ending DACA is cruel. But then Trump is cruel. So what can you expect from this Supreme Ct. nominees?
5
@Cathy K. If you think that DACA should remain in place and not "sunset" every two years - then lobby congress to enact legislation. What one president does by executive decree, another can undo. Have Congress make DACA permanent by law, as the Constitution requires. That and that alone is the issue before the court. And... good luck with that one! Congress doesn't want to be seen as helping "those people" instead of helping US citizens. Talk about cruel!
5
Minus 700,000 votes from the Democrat column. There is always a method to the madness of Republicans to hold on to power that they can no longer win on merit or by the numbers.
Are we now going watch the Trump administration deport 700,000 Dreamers along with the 69,000 migrant kids under 15 years old they have contained at the border?
A country built by immigrants that always welcomed immigrants has now become the enemy of the poor, tired, displaced and persecuted who cross our borders.
4
You just cannot send all the dreamers back when all of them have been here most of their lives and some if not all don’t speak the language of their native country.
This could incite demonstrations and heaven’s forbid civil unrest. Look what’s happening in Hong Kong.
3
Why is it sufficient for J Kavanaugh to assume that the second set of justifications offered by the administration in a memorandum last year was a considered opinion?
This old lawyer has always understood that it is the role of a reviewing court to make a finding that the executive action was not simply properly considered but also that the action ordered is proper in the circumstances.
If it is sufficient to assume the offered justifications "considered" and the action therefore appropriate, why did the court take the case?
What is the basis of such an assumption?
5
There is only one issue before the Supreme Court. Not if DACA is good. Not if DACA is "right". Not if DACA helps people. Not if ending DACA is wrong.
The sole issue is: does one president have the rightful Constitutional authority to unilaterally end something that a previous president unilaterally created?
That is the only issue. Any SCOTUS Justice who strays from that important legal point is not doing the job.
Moreover: if DACA is in fact good, helpful, right, and ending it is wrong, then it becomes the job of Congress to pass legislation making DACA the law of the land. That's how the Constitution works.
Mr. Obama was a weak president who lacked the "juice" to move Congress. So he used Executive Orders. And the question is: does a future president have the same power?
I know, I know... Mitch McConnell got in his way. Well it's the job of the president yo get things done despite opposition. Obama was too green to have a enough political capital to work the room in the capitol. This mess is a result of him not being ready for the job.
https://emcphd.wordpress.com
17
@Rev. E. M. Camarena, PhD It is simply amazing to hear a Christian Pastor blame Mr. Obama for a "weakness" that history will put squarely on the uniform and obstinate malice of the whole Congressional Republican Party. It was they who followed Newt Gingrich's calculated strategy to destroy anything whatever that Mr. Obama tried to do. You can blame Mr. Obama--and I do--for his position on abortion, etc., but it is simply false to say that his political weakness was somehow intrinsic to himself. Is a Christian obligated to be truthful? If so, Sir, it seems to me you have missed a big mark, here, which historians (whether religious or not) are not going to do.
2
@Rev. E. M. Camarena, PhD: At this point, we cannot even establish that a public policy has been established.
@David A. Lee: Since you raised the issue, and I sincerely hope the moderator allows me this point of personal privilege, I am not in any way a Christian.
You may perhaps wish to rethink your assumptions.
https://emcphd.wordpress.com
3
If DACA is allowed to continue and Democrats claim victory then it will backfire. The question a lot of people have and will continue to have is why didn't President Obama sign executive orders to help Americans, including Black Americans who put him in office.
No executive order mandating bodycams, no executive order to end the war on drugs with the harsh unequal prison sentences, no executive order outlawing stop and frisk, no executive order ending prisons for profits, no executive order to fix infrastructure, no executive order for a public option.....and so on.
The Democrats and their obsession with illegal immigrants has already created a backlash. Their crowing about a DACA victory at the convention will make it worse. Their whining about a DACA loss will be just as bad. A losing situation for Democrats.
21
@Hellen-I want the Democrats to win, because all the current candidates are much better than Trump. That being said, the Democrats are completely out of touch with most Americans on illegal immigration. It is one of the issues which prevent independent and moderate Republican voters from going across the aisle.
9
"“I assume that was a very considered decision,” Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh said..."
Since when has Mr. Trump ever produced a very considered decision? He's too busy insulting people, ranting on Twitter, producing lies by the thousands, conducting criminal behavior, to name just a few of his faults.
When did it become acceptable to tolerate, even applaud, that kind of behavior.
From where I sit he's intent on reversing every Obama accomplishment, no matter the cost or the sensibility.
11
Beyond the obvious racial implications, one of Trump’s motivations for ending the program seems strikingly clear: 
fewer Democratic voters.
5
That doesn’t make sense. Only citizens can vote, Trump isn’t taking away any votes from the democratic side.
7
It is almost blood-boiling to hear Mr. Kavanaugh say that this preposterous piece of cruelty was anything but a furtherance of Mr. Trump's sadistic malice towards people whose predicament began in the innocence of their child-hood, or, that there is any more real substance to it than Mr. Trump's passion for vengeance on President Obama. I was partial towards Mr. Kavanaugh in the attack on his nomination and I got few friends for saying so, publicly, but this offhand gratuity is, as I said, preposterous. How in God's name can this Christian sleep at night?
3
@David A. Lee
Kavanaugh is a Sunday-go-to-meeting kind of Christian, who wouldn't know that Jesus would be horrified by this cruelty.
3
@dutchiris I am almost afraid to say this because I greatly treasure the Eucharist, but I myself once lived as an Episcopalian who treated it as some kind of "Jesus juice." You took it at worship assured of your worth and value to God, then stepped out into the world thankful for yourself and indifferent to almost anything else. Is this the kind of poison that Christians like Kavanaugh take for themselves, then skip out on humanity? I don't know. Surely God does. What I know is that a man who calls himself a Christian who can flip off such cruelty with this kind of seemingly wanton gratuity is, as it seems to me, positively asking for the condemnation of those who "eat and drink to their own damnation," as the old Book of Common Prayer once put, with its characteristic and utter lack of devious evasive speech. In generations to come, real Christians will comprehend this, as too many of us simply don't today.
1
When the government deliberately and publicly fails to enforce a law and people rely on that failure, it is fundamentally unfair to enforce it after a decade has passed since the event unless there is some change in circumstances making delayed enforcement equitable. This suit can be resolved in favor of the "dreamers" without resorting to equitable estoppel. Instead of looking at the issue as involving a right of the government, it should be instead looked at as the denial of the right of the aliens to equal protection and due process. Specifically what has happened is that the government has not deported the individuals but failed to grant them legal status as an immigrant. The failure to grant legal status to an immigrant allowed to stay in the country is something that is not allowed by immigration laws. Therefore it is not a legal right of the government to do so.
2
It is a sad day for American Justice. Let’s not forget that both Gorsuch and Kavanaugh were nominated by a president who did not win the popular vote. How can these two men face the other justices who were put on the court by respecting process. Gorsuch is there as a result of the filthy political maneuvering of Mitch McConnell , first by denying President Obama’s nominee the due process for his nomination and then lowering the vote threshold in the senate. Kavanaug’s nomination was another abhorrent process, nominated by a president whom a majority of Americans DID NOT vote for. Both these men are there as a result of bad faith politics. The fact that these two could vote to destroy the lives of hundreds of thousands young hard working people is disgusting and a sad day for our society.
10
This is what drives me mad a out Democratic voters who say, “I could just never vote for Warren/Sanders cause they’re too far left.” As if they can come in and enforce a leftist agenda by diktat! Their judges will be solid and protect the country, and they won’t run roughshod over foreign affairs besmirching American standing in the world. All the other domestic policy stuff will work it’s way out one way or the other. There is no such ting as boutique politics—you vote for the better candidate, not “stay home” and whine.
3
The public radio program "The World" the other day had interviews with two sisters who are DACA recipients. One worried constantly about this court ruling and the possibility of being deported; the other discovered that her graduate degree and technical skills meant that she could become a Canadian citizen rather quickly, as could her husband, and they now live without fear in British Columbia.
Many nations will be happy to take DACA recipients. As the woman in British Columbia said, her parents left their country in Central America for the U.S. for a better life; she left the U.S. for a better life in Canada.
There are literally dozens of nations around this planet that offer DACA recipients and current American citizens and legal residents alike a better life and a better future than does Trump's U.S.A.
10
KMW,
Some people just don’t understand the concept of concrete thought; rules, law and order are abstract, unrealistic problems.
Education is a remote idea only associated with work or a job that returns monetary gain.
1
I hope and pray what is reporterd here comes true.
I am an immigrant to America who waited and followed all rules.
And continue to abide by the oath I took to become an American.
But this special exemption created by a president with no legal foundation must end.
I think the current assault on our borders where many illegals are being coached to bring in minors as an anchor to successfully plead for an asylum - shows abuse of a system.
SCOTUS by ruling for administration will declare that immigration laws - or any laws can only be created by Congress - and signed by a POTUS.
Anything else - simply does not pass the smell test of what our laws stand for.
And finally, this is emphatically become apolitical issue. Political issues are best handled by two superior branches of government - Congress and the Executive.
25
This is such a terrible use of the court. These young people should be allowed to stay and that should be the end of it. How can any justice vote any other way is simply cruel.
17
How heart breaking that all of these fine kids might be deported due to a politicized Supreme Court.
After we grieve, hopefully voters of all ages and ethnicities will understand and act upon the dictum that elections have consequences.
We all need to turn out at the polls and sweep Trump and Republicans in the Senate out of office. We can't afford to be divided, can't afford to stay home. If they aren't removed, none of the things we want will happen.
Warren and Sander's support of Medicare for All and open borders is too easy to attack in an election. They should either modify their positions or step back. Most of us want universal healthcare coverage and immigration, but those are poor political strategies. We must win the election and then pass such legislation when we control the House, Senate and White House.
14
@B - Neither Warren or Sanders support open borders...
2
@Karen
"Elizabeth Warren says she wants those who illegally overstay student visas to be able to stay in America indefinitely.
That pretty summed up the Democratic Party 2020 presidential primary debate on Tuesday. Hosted by CNN, and masterfully moderated by Dana Bash and Jake Tapper (who kept panelists to their allotted time) Democrats doubled down on their new immigration platform: effective open borders.
The vast majority of primary contenders wanted to decriminalize illegal border crossings" https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/democrats-double-down-on-open-borders
3
A Dream of many Americans, especially older Americans.....
A return to the Republican Party values, disposition, and wisdom of Dwight David Eisenhower.
A return to the Republican Party values, disposition, and wisdom of Theodore Roosevelt.
A Republican Party based upon Midwest values.
A Republican Party respectful of its mid-19th century founders' values.
4
The closest thing to that would be the Democratic party, ironically.
3
It is not about the law... Perplexing as that is what the Supreme Court's job is. They do no make laws, they enforce them. They can give the people a stay until the government passes a law to give them legal status or send them home. The court can not make laws or that is a constitutional crisis.
5
I hope Chief Justice John Roberts honors his view of "minimizing the hardships" of current DACA recipients by grandfathering them in to continued protected status against deportation even if the program is ended. The unrelenting callousness of the Trump administration to the plight of immigrants requires such "humane" intervention. Perhaps the court will surprise us by providing it.
9
Wow! When the Supreme Court starts basing rulings on the philosophy of “the ends justify the means,” we are headed for trouble. Hey, it’s a good result, and kids relied on it in good faith, so we will find a way to make it legal. After all, who needs Congress to make laws? We just need good ideas and executive power, and a sympathetic SCT. What seems like a nice cosy and warm result now will seem like a nightmare in future days.
5
@Pro: many SCOTUS decisions from the past decade seem to be based on “the ends justify the means,”, e.g., Citizens United. Money as free speech? Corporate citizenship?
4
To claim ending DACA "was a very considered decision" has to be one of the most profoundly cynical statements from the mouth of any Court justice. Clearly, nothing in this most chaotic, incompetent and incoherent of administrations has ever been 'considered' except through the lens of appealing to Trump's base. Even his appointees on the Court must be aware of this.
If the Court rules 5-4 against DACA, it will only confirm the modern Court's complete politicization. It will mark a triumph of absurd cruelty over common sense, and rightly earn the contempt of millions.
16
We shall see, the decision hasn't been made. Obama created an illegal program, we can do something else with these people but serious vetting is needed and a firm program must be in place that is voted on by congress. It's no one's fault it's just what it is.
12
I was unaware that the Supreme Court "sided" with one party or another. I thought they were supposed to "side" with the law, like it or not.
11
This was one of the very predictable reasons McConnell held up Obama's nomination and thus highjacked our checks and balances. Good going, Mitch!
12
Say how the Court appears to lean one way or the other is ridiculous.
The people who refused to support Hillary, because of their high horse attitudes, and the Republicans in the Senate, especially Susan Collins, gave us this court and the imbecile dictator who occupies the White House.
16
Nancy Pelosi should have made a deal with Trump for the border wall when he offered to allow DACA to remain in place in exchange. Very bad strategic error by the Democrats.
19
@XLER
- Trump could've signed off on a deal in the first 2 years of his presidency, when Republicans controlled the House & Senate, that would've given him 25 billion dollars for his wall of vanity. All trump had to do was accept a 10-14 year path to citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants brought to the United States at a young age. Guess what? Thanks to Stephen Miller, trump rejected that legislation and later went on to shut down the government instead.
- Also, Congress passed the "American Dream and Promise Act of 2019" in June. It went to the Senate and Mitch McConnell has refused to act on it, along with the many other pieces of legislation the House has passed that are sitting on his desk.
House Democrats aren't the problem here. Trump is deliberately holding DACA recipients hostage, using them as a bargaining chip, and the "do nothing" Republican Senate is helping him do it. It's inhumane.
16
@XLER
Deals with despots are ill advised.
3
If congress can’t fix this we have lost our soul.
14
Kids suffer all the time when their parents break the law. Having to contemplate being ejected from your country of residence is harsh to unimaginable, but it is on a spectrum. Other kids lose their parents to jail, become impoverished, shamed, abandoned.
I came to this country legally. Had I not been granted that right, I would have not come here. Explain to me why parents who disrespect the process (and it is not a trivial process) are entitled to the same outcome as those who respect it. Explain to me how the rule of law is served, and what other laws can and should be subverted at will.
Those in limbo should consider the role of their parents. My kids have no reason to berate me on this score. I did not place them in jeopardy by coming here illegally. I hate Trump with a passion, but the elected president surely has the authority to craft policy here, especially considering it was an issue he ran on.
29
@Xoxarle - "Explain to me why parents who disrespect the process (and it is not a trivial process) are entitled to the same outcome as those who respect it."
...
This is not about the parents....
4
It’s precisely about the parents. Those kids didn’t come here on their own volition, they were brought here by people who knew they were breaking the law, but broke it anyway.
My parents robbed a bank. Can I keep the money they gave me? I didn’t rob the bank myself, it’s about me not them, why should I have to suffer?
13
@Xoxarle The difference, clearly, is that they did not break the law, their parents did. Coming from places that are so bad that people WALK the distance from Guatemal to the border for a better life for their children should not be in the same category as people that sell drugs or serious crimes. Kind of how we have misdemeanor charges vs. felony charges for crimes. You are lucky to have been able to get citizenship. I've heard stories of how some people can be taken advantage of from so called immigration lawyers that take their money, and never do a thing for them, with no recourse because they aren't citizens. Many of these people are looking to work any job,not just a good job, although i'm sure they would be thrilled with that, and for their children to be able to live. I applaud you for obtaining citizenship, but it's not (as you know) handed out to whomever applies. Holding something against these people because you were able to get it seems selfish to me. They should be given citizenship. Our current immigration system needs re-worked totally, but for those having been raised here, and of no fault of thier own, they should have citizenship.
4
If only Pelosi would have worked with Trump back in December, 2018 and agreed on an immigration bill, those DOCA candidates would have been finishing up the requirements for citizenship, but Nancy wanted to include chain migration so that the parents would get amnesty as well as the11-20 million hidden illegal immigrants.
When you gamble, there is a chance that you lose.
19
@JRS
Legislation was passed by Congress and sent to the Senate, but Ann Coulter called Trump a coward, so he folded and told Moscow Mitch he wouldn't sign it. Amazing how many dishonest comments are posted that falsely blame House Democrats for this.
The Wall Funding Deals Trump Rejected
https://www.wsj.com/articles/shutdown-has-been-a-year-in-the-making-11547498818
What horrific people Trump and his supporters and enablers are. Karma can't come soon enough to decimate these evil people.
13
@Birbal Ok ,so Obama pulled a fast one on congress ,also causing the rush of millions to the border,then Pelosi would not take the good deal between President Trump and now ,of course, he's to blame .
15
@Alan Einstoss Absolute nonsense. You look at Stephen Miller's consistent, anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies, and then tell me that some sort of 'deal' on immigration would have ever been struck. Cruelty is the point with the 'Administration,' and the easily malleable Trump is all-in. Full stop.
5
Go back on your word, America! (I'm a sinophile: I understand what a perverse favor the U.S. is doing for China.)
Cheers to your ignorance!
4
Exactly:
"If the DACA program were passed by an act of Congress ..., that would have a stronger Constitutional standing than an "executive order" from the president without Congressional approval."
I'm confident that some "deal" will be worked out for DACA people, but it will result from American generosity, not because any DACA person has a "right" to stay. To rely on a law is "reasonable," but to rely on a mere "executive order" -- issued by a President who prefers not to ask for Congressional backing even though his party controls Congress -- is not.
12
More bad faith from the U.S. as the world looks on beyond Syria, beyond extracting ourselves from the Paris accord. I hope the next President has the wisdom to see our role in the world once again. The hardest part about waiting Trump out is his ability to choose judges, Supreme court and otherwise. The lower circuit judges are being packed with conservatives without qualifications but we can look ahead to many 5 to 4 decisions in favor of Trump (conservative stances) from the court as it stands today.
7
@A. Xak
But we've got Chuck (Schumer) on our side! He'll do right by us!
2
This is a very reactionary attitude on the part of the conservative justices. How unfortunate for our country. So we should quit paying the salary and benefits of these justices so they get the picture perhaps
7
If one President can create the program, another can dismantle it. Seems pretty straightforward to me.
23
@Herr Andersson Trump's hatred of any policy that Obama touched is 'pretty straightforward' to me. Trump's imposter, Twitter-Presidency is devoid of a moral compass, you know that Trump could not write, read, or coherenlty explain a policy -- more's the pity that this farce and venal outlook on American life drags on, day after day.
3
@Herr Andersson
Doesn't make it right.
3
The Supreme Court. A wholly owned subsidiary of Trump Enterprises.
14
My heart continues to break for what is happening to my country.
America is supposed to be more than a country, it is an idea.
It used to be a dream - a dream of hard work leading to a better life, equality, fairness and dignity. All those things were possible in this great experiment of the country that I grew up in.
I'm afraid with this administration and its appointments that is no longer true. What will be our future now?
These DACA kids only wanted what was fair and decent.
Who would have ever thought that we could go from Obama to this.....
14
@vaughan Contrary to what you said, virtually all these DACA kids did not come here wanting what was fair and decent. They were the unwitting baggage of their illegal parents who chose to ignore the USA's immigration laws. They were along for the ride and now they are here by virtue of an Obama illegal executive order. Trump offered the democrats a reasonable way out of this mess, but they were more interested in opposing Trump then solving the problem.
10
@Donald Smith Not true. Let's review the facts:
- Trump could've signed a bipartisan deal in the first 2 years of his presidency, when Republicans controlled the House & Senate, that would've given him 25 billion dollars for his wall. All trump had to do was accept a 10-14 year path to citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. at a young age. But thanks to Stephen Miller, trump rejected it, and later went on to shut down the government instead.
- Congress passed the "American Dream and Promise Act of 2019" in June. It went to the Senate and Mitch McConnell has refused to act on it, along with the many other pieces of legislation the House has passed that are sitting on his desk.
Congress & House Democrats aren't the problem here. Trump is deliberately holding DACA recipients hostage, using them as a bargaining chip. And the "do nothing" Republican Senate is helping him do it. It's inhumane.
1
The kids are not at fault, and they only know the US (the cities where they live) as their home. It is their home. USA should help these folks live happily. Albeit, the parents are a different story, but still let them stay and see how they are working out for the country.
I live in Australia and we have had many "boat" people arrive after enduring a treacherous journey on less than seaworthy vehicles. Australia treats these folks very very badly, very unbecoming a civilized nation. My two cents on this are that, once a person has arrived here using whatever means (boat, etc.) they MUST be treated with utmost politeness, given a medical check up (given health care if required), provided with good food, then taken to a [very neat and proper] prison (almost like a hotel room), YES PRISON, for that night only. The next morning, they should be met by immigration folks to to process their case. First by telling the new arrival that it was dangerous and illegal to enter Australia by evasive methods. However, now that "you" are here, you will learn English (assess their language skills), and then you must have a job. [Give these folks nation building (properly paid) jobs building roads, bridges, or help them immerse into the country according to their skills.] On top of this, give these folks a "temporary" protection visa after assessing that these folks are just people looking for a good home and have no ulterior motives. The rest is history, they become Australian tax payers.
6
@Kristina
The arc of the moral universe bends toward justice. Unfortunately, Justices Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh are on the wrong side of history.
9
As I read this article and read some of the comments I am ashamed to call myself an American today. The reason Obama had to use an executive order to establish DACA was because the GOP congress would not do their job and of course did not want to anger their racist base. Not since the Nazi's Madagascar Plan has this world seen the like.
20
"...Mr. Trump struck a different tone. “Many of the people in DACA, no longer very young, are far from ‘angels,’” he wrote on Twitter. “Some are very tough, hardened criminals.”
I hope he tweeted this standing in front of a mirror.
8
Let me see if I got this straight.
Obama starts an admittedly unconstitutional “program”. Trump seeks to end this unconstitutional program..and he’s the monster?
Isn’t it Congress’s job to deal with the mess they created?
33
Um, you don’t have this straight. Try again.
5
Umm, actually he does.
9
And people wonder why the word of the US government is worthless now.
8
@Brookhawk
Thanks Obama.
11
Then may they reach heaven before the devil knows they're dead.
And I'll be the first to tell 'Im.
3
Putting an end to DACA will put another nail in the coffin of the American dream. It will show the world how racist we still are.
If America doesn't have room for these dreamers, who came here with their parents and have worked hard to make valuable contributions to our country, then we stand for nothing.
We will be making it clear that we don't want non-whites, regardless of how accomplished they are.
8
This is tragic and disgusting, a slap in the face of the American dream. We need these good young people. And now their lives may be up for grabs.
Shame.
9
What a cruel, stupid and shameful policy. I am going to ask my Congressman and Senators to introduce legislation to grant immediate citizenship to all DACA recipients, including any who might be deported under this policy, on Inauguration Day 2021, when we will hopefully have swept this foul administration into the dustbin of history.
9
Congress needs to pass immigration reform laws but as they debate what that entails so that it reflects what this country was from its beginnings and undertakes its leadership in this world, it can pass a law that provides protection to the Dreamers and a quick path to citizenship. Democrats need to pass such a law in the house if they haven’t already and put Republicans in the position of either stepping up to this responsibility for no other reason then because we are human beings or saying no to show once again they have no respect for humanity.
7
@Daniel Skillings Congress passed the "American Dream and Promise Act of 2019" in June. It went to the Senate and Mitch McConnell has refused to act on it, along with the many other pieces of legislation the House has passed that are sitting on his desk.
House Democrats aren't the problem here. Trump is deliberately holding DACA recipients hostage, using them as a bargaining chip, and the "do nothing" Republican Senate is helping him do it. It's inhumane.
4
Executive orders are viewed by our supreme court very differently. If a Republican president makes up an emergency and designates funds appropriated by congress differently for his pet project the court argues that congress gave the president this power. If a Democratic president uses his power to shield the Dreamers to avoid a true emergency and hardship he oversteps his power and the supreme court wants Congress to step in and legislate a solution. Respect for the highest court I no longer have
10
@HS
You are deliberately twisting the circumstances and regardless what one president does by executive action another can undo the same way.
5
It seems like people who support reparations also support DACA. Why should children who are illegally in the US not be punished for the crimes of their parents, but other people be punished for what some people who happen to share their skin color did over 150 years ago? I’m not saying DACA is right or wrong, I’m just pointing out that to support both DACA & reparations is indefensible.
21
@Sanity I question your sanity.
3
@Sanity
There is no link between DACA and reparations - except maybe on Fox News.
4
@Sanity
DACA recipients are free to leave. Slaves never had such rights. It's indefensible to pretend you didn't know this.
5
Character trumps all. (Yes, pun intended.)
What do these actions have in common: ridiculing a disabled man; ridiculing parents whose son died serving this country, tearing children away from their families; keeping these children (including infants) in cages indefinitely; deporting tax-paying, business-owning, job-creating entrepreneurs; and generally working hard to deport people who have committed no crime?
The answer: cruelty. Underneath the irrationality, the fear, the political grandstanding, and the sheer lack of sense, all these actions are just plain cruel.
And a large chunk of our population cheers. American values used to be the gold standard of the world. How far we have sunk.
11
Congress was unable to pass a comprehensive immigration policy during the Obama presidency. So President Obama passed the DACA resolution to help around 800,000 children.
Congress is still unable to legislate immigration so the only thing that this callous administration can think of doing is to eliminate DACA.
That doesn't solve anything. It just hurts innocent children.
GOP and trump: miserable people running this country.
Vote well in 2020.
10
This is not the most egregious American (whites) behaviour when it comes to race. The 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act is more comprehensive in racial discrimination and it included even singling Chinese born in USA for special treatment. It lasted effectively one century.
4
@Mountern
Absolutely correct. Thanks for that reminder.
3
Well, better start hiring some ICE staff. I'd say two or three hundred thousand ought to do the trick.
5
As an immigrant who came here by choice since married to a US citizen, I find it is the utmost case of hypocrisy to tell a child or young adult that they are not welcome here because they came as their parents' children, dependents of adults who were looking for a better life here in the US. Does this president and his cohort of merry men ever think of what could have happened to all the Irish, Italian, Polish etc... children who came here to escape war, famine and horrors in the 18th, 19th and 20th century? They were immigrants then, just as these Dreamers are. America is a country of immigrants. Under this president, America holds a big sign up that says: " You are not welcome here! " How does that make you feel my fellow American citizens?
7
President Trump has never said he would deport DACA children.
9
@Dr. John
You haven't waited long enough.
2
@Kiska
That’s rather ridiculous.
“Theodore B. Olson, a lawyer for the DACA recipients, said the memo allowed the administration to avoid taking political heat on the issue. “The administration did not want to own the decision,” he said.”
I guess Trump’s version of the art of the deal is to make decisions in a cowardly fashion.
8
The five conservative Supreme Court Justices are a reflection of the Republican Party, Heartless and corporate puppets.
10
The U.S. has become a very cruel country! I am ashamed to call myself American these days.
13
Obama tried and succeeded; these kids tried and succeeded. Today's Supreme Court did not try and failed. Their Supreme skins of privilege must be saved, at all cost. Naturalized citizens are next; just wait and see. First the weak, then the semi-weak, and then your neighbor who has a son-in-law who has a naturalized citizen; it will never stop now. Trump has a green light to call us all monsters and hardened criminals, without a shred of truth, and not one Republican could care less.
9
It is a crying shame that anyone would not side with 700,000 immigrates who have succeed in our country let along side with trump. SCOTUS has become (again) the arm of white male oppression (Clarance doesn't count as a person of color, he has sold his soul). It is another sad day of trump's administration.
6
A really terrible bunch of people in this administration, including on the court.
6
How is it that the Supreme Court will not second guess President Trump’s rationale for terminating DACA? His decision is not policy based. It is his legal opinion that President Obama lacked the constitutional authority to create the program.
Suppose President Trump is wrong? In 1803, a unanimous Supreme Court declared “It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is.” If the Supreme Court is prepared to defer to the President’s view of what the law is, rather than declaring what the law is, then this DACA case will be a blockbuster decision. It will signal the end of the doctrine of judicial review, until now a foundational principle of American constitutional law.
4
@Charlie in NY
The decision will likely be narrow and something along the lines of "the rationale for ending the program was legitimate given the DAPA ruling". Note that courts are supposed to abide by precedent and the precedent is clear.
4
@Keith. Since the Supreme Court never ruled on the legality of DACA, there is no “stare decisis” principle involved. It is a widely accepted misunderstanding of the federal judiciary to say that the Supreme Court is bound by precedent. It is not as precedent binds all inferior courts. It cannot bind itself, but generally respects its prior decisions as a matter of predictability. Hence, stare decisis.
It seems the Court will split the difference and grandfather the current applicants while allowing the program to end. The principle on which the Court does these two things will be important and revealing.
2
@Charlie in NY
A President doesn't have to provide sufficient reason to the Supreme Court to end a previous President's executive order or prosecutorial discretion.
What is done by executive order may be undone by executive order.
Imagine a future President having to go to the Supreme Court everytime he or she wanted to throw out a Trump executive order.
Ridiculous.
5
The supreme court composition is sufficient alone to make sure trump does not get elected for four more years.
1
@Julie
It should be. But it may not be....
1
Common sense. The “dreamers” entered illegally, regardless of how old they were or the circumstances of their entry. Obama couldn’t get a Law passed to protect them so he took it on himself to execute an order saying HE would not deport them but prioritize others first. Trump is well within his right as the executive to simply say that Obama’s priorities are not necessarily his priorities and that the law dictates that anyone in the US illegally is eligible for deportation. Not complicated.
33
@Jack Sure. Nothing is complicated when one has such a hateful view of others.
4
@Jack: So if a child happened to be with a parent who robbed a bank, that child should go to prison as well? That's essentially what you're saying in regards to people who were brought here illegally by their parents.
1
@retnavybrat-What happens when a child’s parents foreclose on a house? Does the child still get to live in the house after the fact?
6
If the decision goes as the pessimists fear, The legacy of the Dreamers will be the question: "Why on earth would you want to emigrate to the US?"
5
@Steve
*illegally, and that is a fine legacy in my opinion.
7
The SCOTUS has been getting more extreme with every new Republican President and when Mitch McConnell blocked President Obama's last SCOTUS pick the I lost complete respect for what the court would become. The Kavanaugh pick put the nail into the coffin. We no longer have a Supreme Court. We have the last resort court that is now controlled by Right Wing Ideologues courtesy of the real deep state: The Federalist Society.
8
@Sasha
I lost respect for it in 2000.
3
The left can blame the plight of the DACA people on Obama who used his personal presidential powers to grant these rights without the consent of Congress and knew full well the unintended consequences.
21
As a former public school teacher who was most inspired by her very best,some of whom were"DACA", I want to know. If 700,000 immigrants get sent back, can I go with them?
7
@Katie I am a retired 5th grade teacher, and I would welcome you and the 700,000 here on the prairie.
1
@Katie-You have to ask Mexico, or the other countries they came from... Of course they actually have pretty stringent laws for citizenship.
10
Sure. Of course, those count will deport you though.
5
The Supreme Trump Republican Court
The "Supreme Court" has lost it's moral authority. The republican court majority has become nothing more than a rubber stamp for the far-right. This court is pro- business, anti- women, anti-minority and anti-citizen (unless they are major campaign donors).
This court majority is in lock-step with the lunatic fringe of the republican party. The republican senate made sure that no other views got on the so-called "supreme court", and denied even moderate Merrick Garland the advice and consent of a fair hearing promised in the constitution.
The Supreme Court of the past 250 years no longer exists. There is no longer even a pretense of striving for justice. The republicans have made a mockery of the constitution.
4
Apparently, this is who we are.
The United States is not to be trusted.
I am deeply ashamed.
11
Just think, without some sort of dreamers program or immigration program perhaps many if not all of these Supreme Court justices voting agains the present DACA programs ancestors would still be in their native countries.
415
@Dr. B, sending the two pretenders to the bench can be arranged, can't it? It would be sweet irony if someone hacked into Trump's bank account to pay for it!
9
@Dr. B It is true that the justices ancestry did immigrate, but that seems to me to be red herring in what this situation is. The U.S. had a temporary immigration program that was based on children coming initially illegally. The legislature could not agree - even with bipartisanship recently - on a long term plan for them.
14
@Dr. B Did any of the Supreme Court Justices, or their ancestors, come here illegally? Or did you just make this up?
25
If the 2020 election brings a Democratic administration, perhaps there will still be time to save the Dreamers.
6
It is important to never forget that the central motivation for this and other such actions is nothing but white nationalist racism. Trump campaigned on racism. He governs with racism. And his base adores him for his racism.
The Trump Republican White House is telling us that they want to deport 700,000 young people. In order to be part of DACA, these young people have already met stringent requirements. They are in school or are working. A large number have served in the military. In other words, pretty much everything that Trump is saying about them is lies. Many were so young when they arrived here that they cannot remember their country of origin. Many cannot speak or read the native language of their country of origin. To do this to them is cruel and inhumane.
13
The problem I have with this program is that proponents will inevitably argue that it would be cruel to deport these people’s parents, so the whole family must be allowed to stay, illegal immigrants or not. That isn’t fair to people who did come here legally. This policy will also encourage illegal immigration. We are talking about “illegal immigration” and “illegal immigrants” rather than just plain “immigrants.”
22
@Bookworm8571,
A potential DACA reprieve from SCOTUS was the impetus for the caravans coming to the borders; it just created an immigration mess; never before in history has the USA had such a massive immigration problem created by a defunct Congress.
6
Give Trump the ruling he wants and another four years, he'll deport them all. Elect a Democrat and they stay, likely with a pathway to the citizenship they deserve. Yes, the 2020 election is about American identity. A country we can be proud of, or ashamed. There is no more important criteria on how to cast a ballot.
11
Even if DACA is shut down how would the deportations ever be carried out?
No administration is going to deport 700K young people without being able to deport their parents too; we have to presume their parents are non documented as well don't we?. Where would they deport them to anyway? Drop them off at Mexico City airport, San Jose airport Costa Rica?
It's not going to happen....... but it might send a message for other potential undocumented migrants not to try the same tactic - at least while Trump is around.
2
Elections have consequences. We're stuck for decades with Kavanaugh and Gorsuch. We could well get stuck with worse before the criminal Trump is finished packing the SCOTUS with more of his guys. I pray that people of good will will turn out in force to vote a year from today. I pray that the Dems will get their act together and run a candidate with vision, brains, and heart who can win.
9
On the record, I am not in favor of DACA.
Even if the Congress eventually grants amnesty to DACA recipients, they should at least, in addition to all the usual conditions, such as passing background check, learning English, etc., pay back all the freebies they have received, such as free education, free school meals, supplies, etc., which they are not really entitled to....
20
@John D What a hateful world view. So glad that many Americans don't share it.
4
@Roberta
How is it hateful...? Paying back what they are not legally entitle to...?
5
@John D
What did you do to deserve or to be "entitled" to a public education?
Yeah, that's what I thought - exactly nothing, other than being born.
Unless you were somehow able to choose your parents before you were born, so as to be certain you'd be a citizen. Clever of you!
2
If the DACA program were passed by an act of Congress representing the people in the normal way, that would have a stronger Constitutional standing than an "executive order" from the president without Congressional approval.
According to our system of government in America.
11
These parents made one vital error. They should have applied immediately for legal status in their home countries. This would have prevented them from having put their children through the DACA process. This is what many legal immigrants did and now they are reaping the benefits of legal citizenship. This should be a worthwhile lesson to others that it is wiser to apply legally which should guarantee them entry. It may take a bit longer but it will cause them much less stress.
18
I have students who are Dreamers. When "he" was elected I saw the fear for their families, friends, siblings, and spouses. I saw the future and it didn't include 5 judges dismantling the dreams of children. While I can't lose hope for fear I will implode into dust-are those that we call Dreamers able to hold on? I don't see how-but my dreams reside in the bigger dream of the 'mountain top' where the just and fair embrace and transform nightmares.
John Roberts, what were your dreams?
3
Open borders is, using existing safeguards again is the answer.
2
How about a DACA Reconciliation Act to deal with the young people we have invested in. Six members. Three from each party. And if they mess up we can settle scores in the next election.
1
Our Supreme Court has an a less than stellar record when it comes to ethical decisions regarding individuals and/or groups of individuals. Professor of Law (UCLA) Adam Winkler documents this in his book titled "We the corporations".
Should the SCOTUS strike down DACA, a program that treats human beings morally, in the spirit of our national ethos, they will nail closed the coffin on ethical behavior leaving us with only ideologically narrow reads of the law as written while disregarding the intent thereof. We will then become no better than other autocratic nations where the courts are in the pocket of the ruler and his/her oligarchs.
1
No one seriously questions that many DACA people would make good citizens:
"My best friend, a Dreamer, and I just graduated law school together. She excelled ... "
Frankly, most Americans would go further -- i.e., not require that a DACA person establish that he or she would make a good citizen. The fact remains that the US government does, and should, have only an obligation to enforce the laws that Congress has actually passed -- NOT an "executive order" issued by a former President. Within the limits of actual laws, each President gets to establish his or her "policies."
13
@Commenter Why are you quoting/misquoting other readers' comments? Why not just respond directly if you have something to say to that person? Not interested in having a back and forth dialogue?
1
Simple solution. Supreme Court sides with Trump and ends DACA program. Congress then finally does it’s job and writes new immigration laws that allows DACA to stay as permanent foreign residents. They would not be allowed citizenship unless they went into the line that every other immigrant trying to come to America must endure. Their parents knew exactly what they were doing when they brought these children to America illegally and should not be rewarded by skipping the line.
15
@Collie Sue many of them are employed in professional jobs can they quickly get H1 work visas, please kindly.
As the vast majority of the comments here make crystal clear, we have become a nation of crybabies. Of course the DACA recipients have no path to citizenship, nor will they whichever way this decision goes. That's why congress, not the President, must act. And, give Trump something in return so he will sign whatever bill they come up with. That's how the system is supposed to work.
18
This is a sad time in America when we won’t give people any chance at the American dream. What has happened to this country I once was so proud of?
3
We give millions of people a chance. You just have to do it legally, not jump in line. How would you feel if you were in a long line at the grocery store and someone cut in front of you? Would you cheer them on? I doubt it and I doubt if anyone who has followed the law and become a citizen would either.
18
A commenter misunderstands the legal doctrine of "promissory estoppel." The first requirement of that doctrine is that one's reliance have been reasonable. To argue that DACA people were "reasonable" to rely on an "executive order," as distinguished from a Congressionally-approved law, is quite a stretch.
Some compromise will be worked out here, as almost nobody wants to punish DACA people who've played by the rules all of their lives (other than the immigration laws, of course) -- even if their parents did not. But it's a real "stretch" to argue that they're entitled to favorable treatment -- as compared, notably, to "legal" immigrants who follow all of the immigration laws -- is a stretch too far. DACA people will be treated leniently, but that will happen as an expression of American generosity, not because DACA people have any right to lenient treatment.
6
President Obama and the Democrats controlled the entire government - House and Senate - his first two years.
Why did he refuse to put a DACA program to a vote when he was sure to win?
If he would have simply done that - and gave the DACA children amnesty and the right to vote - Democrats would have won every subsequent national election in a landslide.
Now his failures come to roost.
16
@Dr. John
... how about obstruction (for ANYTHING) from the not-insignificant Republican minority in Congress? Hence the reliance on Executive Order.
Is this an example of making America *great* again?
4
@Dr. John
History will judge Obama harshly on several fronts.
9
@Dr. John
June 2013: Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act, 68-32. The legislation under Obama received bipartisan support in the Senate but House Republicans refused to even bring it to the floor.
6
Despicable. No other word will do.
6
"Still, there was agreement among the justices that the young people who signed up for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals..and their families, schools and employers had relied on it in good faith."
All the cast of characters "relied on it (DACA) in good faith." Obvious they relied on it to their detriment. Why is detrimental reliance considered to be of no consequence in this case? Why should anyone rely on the representations or promises by the government as a representation that they can trust?
4
Our country needs workers. This group is already a part, or nearly a part, of that. With proper and expedited vetting, let’s provide a pathway to citizenship.
8
As I drive down the road I see immigrants working in construction in the road and more building houses. Totally agree, immigrants are great because the fill the vacuum for cheap labor.
The ending of the ‘dreamers’ ascendence in the US to possible deportation is as mean spirited and senseless as any short sighted outlook can be. This ruling would be unconscionable.
9
I'm confident that some "compromise" solution will be presented, but Trump is 100% right on this. He doesn't need to argue that DACA is unconstitutional. He needs simply to argue that DACA was decreed by "executive order," not Congressional action (aka a federal law), and so he's free to issue a contrary executive order.
Congress COULD have passed some new immigration laws but, for reasons known only to Congressional leaders, Congress did not. Instead, it left the decision up to Trump. Americans will demand that DACA people not be punished for actions taken by their parents long ago, and Trump probably will target DACA "bad guys" for deportation, but the fact will remain that Trump will be the one who draws the line between "bad guys" and "good guys." Congress could have passed some new law that drew this line -- when Democrats controlled Congress and the Presidency, for example -- but Congress chose not to. It dropped the ball, and now Trump will pick it up.
11
@Commenter
- Trump could've signed off on legislation in the first 2 years of his presidency, when Republicans controlled the House & Senate, that would've given him 25 billion dollars for his wall of vanity. All trump had to do was accept a 10-14 year path to citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants brought to the United States at a young age. Guess what? Thanks to Stephen Miller, trump rejected that legislation and later went on to shut down the government instead.
- Also, Congress passed the "American Dream and Promise Act of 2019" in June. It went to the Senate and Mitch McConnell has refused to act on it, along with the many other pieces of legislation the House has passed that are sitting on his desk.
House Democrats aren't the problem here. Trump is deliberately holding DACA recipients hostage, using them as a bargaining chip, and the "do nothing" Republican Senate is helping him do it. It's inhumane.
VOTE in 2020.
6
I would have hoped our generation would have overcome politics and appointed people to the court who are wise elders from all walks of life but apparently we are not that evolved yet. So sad that we still think we deserve the privileges but others are different. Presidents and political parties have packed the court before and the pendulum always swings back. Continue the fight. Don't give up hope.
8
Thanks for your civility and compassion.
2
As we anticipate families around Thanksgiving tables , it may help remembering that the Pilgrims we remember were themselves "Dreamers".
18
The country needs a coherent and uniform immigration policy. Draw a line under the program and don’t entertain these backdoor arrangements again. If people can qualify for immigration using the proper application methods that’s fine - don’t undermine that with DACA-type arrangements. As for those already in the US under DACA, let them go on to citizenship unless they have been involved in criminal activity.
5
Of course Trump can end DACA.
Obama promulgated DACA.
Trump can end it.
It's absurd to argue that any President
can bind his successors.
It's absurd to argue that a President
cannot undo what his predecessor did.
Furthermore,
the fact that Obama chose to put forth an elaborate rationale for promulgating DACA
does not bind a subsequent President to go through the same elaborate rationale in order to undo it.
Obama invented the substance of DACA.
He also invented the elaborate procedural hoops for it.
Neither binds any subsequent President.
22
If there was “agreement amongst the justices” that not only the Dreamers, but also “their families, schools, and employers” had “relied” on the DACA program “in good faith” than these justices should unanimously uphold their right to continue enjoying the benefits contained in it, citing the established equitable remedy of promissory estoppel. All had changed their positions in reliance upon the issued Order of a sitting American President, guaranteeing that certain benefits be extended to them as long as they satisfied their obligations under that Order.
1
We know the answers already:
"If the Supreme Court invalidates President Obama’s Executive Order, what will happen to these 700,000 young people? Will they all be deported and will their parents be deported, too?"
The SC almost certainly will rule for Trump, but Americans will demand that he exercise his clear authority in a way that does not punish DACA people. Trump has expressed an intention to target "bad guys," and I suspect that's what he'll do. Why a prospective "bad guy" would declare himself as a DACA person utterly escapes me, and so I think Trump will be left to distinguish among DACA "good guys." My strong hunch is that many ACA "good guys" will be deported as a result. Congress will deserve some of the blame for that, because it ignored Trump's suggestion that his opponents suggest some "compromise."
1
- Trump could've signed off on legislation in the first 2 years of his presidency, when Republicans controlled the House & Senate, that would've given him 25 billion dollars for his wall of vanity. All trump had to do was accept a 10-14 year path to citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants brought to the United States at a young age. Guess what? Thanks to Stephen Miller, trump rejected that legislation and later went on to shut down the government instead.
- Also, Congress passed the "American Dream and Promise Act of 2019" in June. It went to the Senate and Mitch McConnell has refused to act on it, along with the many other pieces of legislation the House has passed that are sitting on his desk.
House Democrats aren't the problem here. Trump is deliberately holding DACA recipients hostage, using them as a bargaining chip, and the "do nothing" Republican Senate is helping him do it. It's inhumane.
VOTE in 2020.
2
Rule of law is important. If you want to legalize certain immigration, do it. I agree certain DACA designers should have a path to citizenship. That does not mean I think every 16 year old who can show up deserves the privileges of citizenship. That is an unworkable policy and unworkable policies are not legitimate subjects of debate. We should only be discussing workable policies that can be implemented. One of these is deportation, a time-proven and universally accepted practice. Another option is to permit new schemes of immigration. Open global chaos is not a legitimate policy recommendation.
14
Obviously, both houses of Congress should get together to enact legislation that protects these individuals.
4
It's not all that easy.
Keep this in mind: Any concession to DACA people amounts to a message that "legal" immigrants shouldn't have bothered. I do sympathize with the many "good" DACA people, but let's remember that most Americans feel that we should be allowed to state the rules. We don't (or at least shouldn't) want a "solution" that encourages "legal" immigrants to opt for the "illegal" route taken by the parents of DACA people.
15
DACA children have come here as children, unable to choose their path forward or where to live. They have been educated and trained here in the USA, many not even knowing or speaking their birth language. Many even graduated colleges here. Why should we send them back and lose these wonderful, talented youth? It makes no sense. In addition, we're telling the world we can't keep our agreements. Another nail in the coffin of trust with those who are our allies.
4
Trump has offered to help dreamers stay as part of a overall immigration reform deal which Democrats have steadfastly rejected. Granting dreamers conditional amnesty, reforming policies that encourage human trafficking, birth tourism and such all needs to be done.
Squabbling over legal minutiae would not be necessary if congress,senate and president did their jobs as intended.
2
Erasing Obama’s achievements is a primary goal for Trump and the GOP. But will you be surprised if Trump uses SCOTUS to eliminate DACA, then, in what may be seen as a brilliant re-election move, he benevolently allows Dreamers (at least those with no criminal record) to stay? Wouldn’t that have the potential to woo support from some people who were heretofore anti-Trump? And, at the same time, by driving a stake through DACA going forward, red meat would still be thrown to his frothing horde of followers.
Recall the Trump pattern: create a problem, then suggest a remedy to the problem which you created, then expect to be seen as a hero for offering a remedy to the problem you created. If that doesn't work out, blame and/or fire someone.
4
A lot of folks who oppose DACA talk about "enforcing the nation's laws". Well, sure, but a couple generations of GOP lawmakers have made it absolutely impossible to do so by withholding adequate funding to deal with illegal immigration. So, that leaves presidents to make choices and to pursue the kinds of cases that most threaten the country.
Trump sees children as the greatest threat. Better to pack them off before they create a new generation of non-white citizens.
It really is that simple.
2
Let’s be clear where the blame lies in this terrible decision. It lies in the hands of Congress, which for years has not had the guts or the moral compass to make the Dreamers relief into the law of the land. If Congress were anything other than the timid group that it is, this would not be an issue. In fact, the whole set of issues decided by the judiciary would not exist if Congress would do its job,
4
@Peter Limon
Lots of dishonest posts falsely blaming Congress (specifically House Democrats) are swarming the comments section. The timing of all these posts right before public testimony for the impeachment inquiry is suspicious. So let's review the facts:
- Trump could've signed a bipartisan deal in the first 2 years of his presidency, when Republicans controlled the House & Senate, that would've given him 25 billion dollars for his wall. All trump had to do was accept a 10-14 year path to citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. at a young age. But thanks to Stephen Miller, trump rejected it, and later went on to shut down the government instead.
- Congress passed the "American Dream and Promise Act of 2019" in June. It went to the Senate and Mitch McConnell has refused to act on it, along with the many other pieces of legislation the House has passed that are sitting on his desk.
Congress & House Democrats aren't the problem here. Trump is deliberately holding DACA recipients hostage, using them as a bargaining chip. And the "do nothing" Republican Senate is helping him do it. It's inhumane.
On the one hand, President Obama may have broken the law because he wanted to help 700,00 deserving young people. On the other hand, trump actually broke the law (yes, attempted bribery is illegal) to benefit only his sorry self.
5
If Obama did it, it must be bad.
That is the limit of Trump's decision making process.
7
If this is the decision of the Supreme Court we might as well shut down the Impeachment hearing now and save a lot of money.
There is no way this Conservative Chief Justice will find against Trump.
1
The decline (already started) and fall (very near) of the USA.
3
Yes, Solicitor General Noel J. Francisco, arguing for the administration, disagreed. “We own it,” he said. Along with caging children, separating families and abandoning comrades on the battlefield. Making America great again? Seriously?!
4
Is this where we're headed?
The "Supreme Council of Magistracy of Saudi Arabia is a seven-eleven member council appointed by the King in the legal system of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It supervises the lower courts of Saudi Arabia – overseeing judges' performances and new judicial appointments – but also provides "legal opinions, advises the King, and reviews sentences involving death, stoning, or amputation".
- Wiki
Welcome to the USA. . .
4
If other nations, not necessarily the Dreamers' country of origin, had any sense, they'd be lining up to welcome these young people and ease their second immigration, as America, in an ugly spasm of self-mutilating xenophobia, seems bent on throwing away some of the best we've got.
The less said about a conservative court -- heads bowed and eyes one the minutia of the law when it comes to the lives of ordinary people; heads up and eyes on the horizon when it comes to the beneficiaries of, say, Citizens United -- the better.
10
Expect Justice Sotomayor to write one of the most important opinions of her career. Hopefully for the majority.
16
My best friend, a Dreamer, and I just graduated law school together. She excelled in our classes, she was on the board of many law organizations, has a full-time associate position awaiting her once bar results are released. She is the hardest working person I know and the most humble. No one in our law school knew her story, they don't know she was brought here at three years old and this is the only home she's ever known. She sat quietly doing her work all through law school, just wanting to be in a position to provide for herself and her family, and in her humble silence, I watched her outperform the majority of our class, including students with undergraduate degrees from some of the top institutions. The thought of this program disappearing and dismantling the only life she's every known breaks my heart. Statistically speaking, she wasn't ever supposed to make it as far as she has, she wasn't supposed to have a seat at the table, and this is what DACA has provided for so many others as well, a fighting chance.
37
While the concept of " A president giveth, a president may taketh away" is something I agree with generally, I do think that many thousands of DACA participants should be not only allowed to stay in the country but should be granted full citizenship after fulfilling various citizenship pathway requirements.
700,000 is too big a number and so that list should be looked at closely with decisions being made regarding the very difficult and heartbraking circumstances regarding deportation.
This is not a border defense issue and is not clear cut. My thoughts are from a" right thing to do" standpoint and not one of legality.
The issue is one of social contract theory in that we owe the US citizen population first for a variety of societal benefits prior to consideration for non-citizens. I may not be right. It is truly a shaky opinion involving the lives of fellow human beings.
5
If these individuals were not already in the country, I would agree that 700,000 is too big of a number. But they are here. They were taught in our schools. They are already assimilated to the US culture. Certainly deport those that don’t meet the standard. But, provide a pathway to citizenship for the rest.
1
Evangelicals, are you hearing this? Is this Christ-like?
32
@M. And most of the dreamers are Christians too, it’s not as though they are some other minority religion.
3
You speak the truth.
1
@M. Do you honestly think this matters? Do you really truly believe that those who call themselves evangelicals actually believe in the purported precepts of this movement? I don't, considering that they overwhelmingly support a callously immoral president. Let's stop the pretending that self-defining pious people who call themselves christian are in any way adhering to some sort of higher standard. The evidence for this is simply not there.
3
The Republican’s purpose in pushing through confirmations of justices and federal judges was just this: to ensure decades of decisions reflecting far right attitudes on social and other issues. With Americans becoming more liberal on social issues, the courts will not serve the majority of us.
23
From a "The Atlantic" article by Parker Richards on October 10, 2018: "Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed to the United States Supreme Court by a vote of 50–48, with one senator absent and one abstaining. Only one Democrat, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, voted with the solidly Republican majority, which represented just 44 percent of the country’s population. Indeed, when Americans last voted for their senators (over a period of six years), Democrats won the popular vote by more than 8 percent. It’s that disproportionality—and the reality that a majority of the country’s population is represented by just 18 senators—that is driving concerns about the Senate’s ability to function as a representative body in a changing America."
The Supreme Court is supposed to be apolitical representing America. It is not supposed to be a reconstructive influence on the country. It is not supposed to be an extension of a political movement designed to disenfranchise 90% of the country.
When the Supreme Court becomes the 'trump' card in the disintegration of governance, we'll all suffer. The minority will prevail today but ultimately, we will pay the ultimate price. We are a failed state because of a lack of fair representation - at all levels of government!
20
The “dreamers” were indeed brought here unknowingly by their parents. They are not to blame for that fact. However, growing up they were taught to lie about their status and the status of their family members. They availed themselves of health, education and public assistance while in many cases not paying taxes. Are they to be exonerated for their entire lives because they were passive immigrants? Or are they to be brutally expelled because they lied for a decade or two of their lives? These are moral questions and gray areas and we need problem solvers who are intelligent enough to to perceive the nuances and make decisions that uphold humanity and all the rights and safety of all the citizens. Personally, I would grant amnesty after everyone in their family (not just the dreamers but their parents and grandparents as well) repaid back taxes and performed public service for two years. Then i would allow them to apply for citizenship.
11
Stephen Miller changed a report, that indicated immigrants, documented and undocumented, give more than they take, to falsely indicate the only take.
3
Thank you for your compassionate and civil argument. Please know that I have worked with immigrant and refugee parents for over 30 years. ANY PARENT working at a restaurant, or landscaping, or cleaning a hotel room, etc. does not work WITHOUT paying taxes.
6
If the Supreme Court supports Trump's elimination of DACA, the young people currently in the program deserve protection. They earned the privilege to be naturalized American citizens. They must not be punished, especially with deportation. Anything else would be an injustice.
6
I hope SCOTUS recognizes that, by ending DACA, midsized and small farmers across the country will struggle to keep farms afloat since many such farmers rely on DREAMers as farmhands under the Trump administration. It’ll be interesting if the farming constituency rescinds their support of the Trump ticket in 2020 because of this.
3
@Colleen Dunn, It is far more likely that their parents were farm workers but the kids were went to school and were educated to a greater degree than the parents. Many of them have decent careers. That is how America works.
3
@Colleen Dunn they won’t. They continue to vote against their own best interests. Hate is that deep. I have a friend who knows farmers who say they’ve been aware of climate change before it made the headlines. They support and will continue to accept subsidies before voting in favor of policies that help them and others. It’s sad.
3
The Republican Party is advertising loud and clear to younger people exactly where they stand. That is why so many of them will never vote for a Republican for the rest of their lives.
23
That's why the Republican party is hoping to saddle young people with lifetime judges that don't reflect their views.
2
DACA should never have been implemented because it was not a law written and passed by Congress, it was put into place by President Obama when he could not get immigration laws that he wanted passed in Congress. I have some sympathy for people who were brought here illegally as children, but it is their parents who put them in the position that they are in now. Anyone who enters our country illegally should never be allowed to obtain U.S. citizenship, because giving citizenship to illegal immigrants just encourages more and more illegal immigration. There may be a case for permitting DACA individuals who haven't committed crimes to remain in our country, but they should never be allowed citizenship.
24
@Sophie I would have some sympathy for your position, except, please notice that the wife of the current president was provided a visa based on her exceptional qualifications (nude modeling), followed by her (formerly?) communist party official father and mother, who were awarded citizenship via chain migration (as republicans refer to this policy). But let's make the rest of those lives full of uncertainty as a future trump may decide that they must go. By executive order.
3
@Sophie, your comment begins with an expression of sympathy. Why does there always have to be a “but?” In any event, however, DACA doesn’t confer citizenship.
2
Pity the child that has to pay for the sins of their parents. If your parents were thieves, should you be punished?
2
I've noticed a talking point that keeps getting repeated in the comments section for this article, falsely blaming Congress, specifically the "do nothing" House Democrats, for the plight that DACA recipients find themselves in. This is a lie.
- Trump could've signed off on legislation in the first 2 years of his presidency, when Republicans controlled the House & Senate, that would've given him 25 billion dollars for his wall of vanity. All trump had to do was accept a 10-14 year path to citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants brought to the United States at a young age. Guess what? Thanks to Stephen Miller, trump rejected that legislation and later went on to shut down the government instead.
- Also, Congress passed the "American Dream and Promise Act of 2019" in June. It went to the Senate and Mitch McConnell has refused to act on it, along with the many other pieces of legislation the House has passed that are sitting on his desk.
House Democrats aren't the problem here. Trump is deliberately holding DACA recipients hostage, using them as a bargaining chip, and the "do nothing" Republican Senate is helping him do it. It's inhumane.
VOTE in 2020
31
Once again we’re punishing and scapegoating people we rely on, for our food (for example), and deporting dreamers would be a brain drain, plus it could have a chilling effect on people from other countries bringing their talents here.
Trump and his supporters appear to be impervious to the facts that immigration influxes (documented and undocumented) continue to bring down crime while stimulating economic growth. They also pay into taxes without reaping benefits (if they’re undocumented).
We need better immigration laws and programs for guest workers, not laws that make it hard for migrant laborers to return to their respective countries and then punish their children. But I guess making it hard for them to leave and punishing their children makes voters forget about all the economic advantages the government keeps handling out to billionaires as they get poorer and their lives become harsher for them and their children.
5
Re Supreme Court Appears Ready to Let Trump End DACA Program, it’s so comforting to learn that “there was agreement among the justices that the young people who signed up for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, were sympathetic and that they and their families, schools and employers had relied on it in good faith.” Somewhere, Justice Benjamin Cardozo is throwing up.
7
As a non immigrant H1B worker I play by the book, worry about Uncertainty of my extensions, 15-20 year wait time to get a green card. So I agree that there has to be strict and coherent immigration policy which discourages illegal immigration and encourage legals like myself. I was disappointed to see someone who broke the law was given priority over me towards a path for citizenship. What is it to stop people from doing it again and again and again.
As an immigrant, it pains me that these children who know no other country but the USA are in living in constant fear of their future. Their parents fled poverty to provide better lives for their kids (as all parents do).
Just wish the politicians understand people and emotions while making decisions, not rhetoric and false stats
I pray for these kids
10
@SHY: Praying is futile. Don't mention it.
May I kindly ask from which country you are?
Don't we already know how this DACA dispute will end up?
The answer is "Yes." Trump will "win" in the Supreme Court, and he'll soon thereafter announce that (1) Obama's DACA program is over, allowing him (Trump) to deport any and all DACA people; and (2) his plan to start exercising that authority by deporting the "bad guys" among DACA people.
Trump's opponents could have had more input into the "solution," but they chose not to. Maybe that was the wisest course of action at the time, but I doubt that. The American people will demand some "solution" that doesn't unfairly penalize "good" DACA people (by deporting them), but the definition of "good" will have been left up to Trump because his opponents have decided to ignore his request for a suggested compromise.
Maybe Trump would simply have rejected any DACA "compromise" proposed by his opponents. But maybe not. In any event, Trump's opponents have essentially declared, by their silence, that Trump gets to decide on the "solution."
3
@Commenter: Failure to believe that Trump is a perfect genius could become grounds for deportation of US citizens.
1
This is ridiculous. Children brought here against their will by their parents will now be deported from the only country they’ve ever called home? And our government loses credibility by going back on its word? What a shameful nightmare.
25
@Nicolas Benjamin Please explain why their parents never bothered to become citizens.
10
@Nicolas Benjamin: The children did not give informed consent to what their parents did, but that is not expected of minors.
1
Re: had relied on it in good faith.
While the deal wasn’t made with Trump, it became Trump’s and who can think of a deal Trump hasn’t reneged on that didn’t benefit him directly. And besides. There are people to hurt. And that’s always good. Hurting people is the core Republican value.
19
A large majority of Americans support DACA. The Supreme Court has been significantly tainted by the election of Bush Jr. and Trump. What a disgrace.
19
@A.: How ironic that it seems to have been done for the benefit of fetuses, as opposed to autonomously living people.
1
Stephen Miller's fingerprints are all over this...he needs to be evicted from the White House NOW.
21
@Allen Oh, please - can’t you see why Obama did this by executive order?
4
I read a lot about how "these DACA recipients are here through no fault of their own."
That maybe true when they were 2,3, or 4 years old. But when they turned 13, 14, 15, etc., they knew they were here illegally, or should have known, and yet they had decided to keep all their benefits of their illegal entry, such as free school meals, books and supplies, free educations through grade 12...?! And they taxpayers are supposed to pay for all that...!
"Through no fault of their own...?!" Really...? If the bank mistakenly credited a million dollars into your account, are you supposed to keep it...? Please...!
19
@John D what would you propose a 13 year old do when they find out they were brought here illegally? Force their family to return to their country of origin? I don’t know any family where 13 year olds get to make those kinds of decisions.
26
And many of those kids went to school and have found careers and are now taxpayers.
3
Their parents are working and paying taxes
3
If the Supreme Court invalidates President Obama’s Executive Order, what will happen to these 700,000 young people? Will they all be deported and will their parents be deported, too? Has anyone really thought about the consequences of such an action?
Who will be responsible for all of the children being held in cages now in detention camps throughout the country?
I simply cannot but help thinking about the roundups of Others during the Second World War. Will some citizens be willing to hide some of those scheduled for deportation?
This country is dangerously close to becoming a brutal, fascist regime.
9
The Dreamers are soon going to find out how the Kurds felt.
19
Many/most of the Dreamers were 'virtually' born here. Since they were babies. Now they are great Americans. Make dreamers American again.
4
@Kami Kata How do you know they are great Americans?
11
@Jackson
How do you know they aren't?
2
@Jackson How do you know they're not? Because trump said so?
The hate and fear mongering rhetoric about immigrants is getting tiresome. Even the people I know who voted for trump are tired of it.
This is basically all brought about because of a failure of Congress to govern. Come on Nancy, do your job. Update our immigration laws now and forget if it makes Trump look good. Are you serious! Nothing can really make Trump look good so why are you playing politics with peoples lives.
6
@Dan Locker What are you saying? Those wonderful republicans REFUSE to play the legislating game.
1
@Dan Locker Trump was holding them hostage with his guns the wall or else threat. Imagine
2
If the Democrats proposed a new bill under which the DACA young people could stay on condition that their lawbreaking parents self-deported, and that they would be awarded permanent "Dreamer" status when their parents departed American soil never to return to live, the bill would pass by 435-0 in the House and 100-0 in the Senate.
8
A true disappointment, 700,000 young kids and young adults at risk of being deported to a country they have no recollection of, half of whom don’t even speak their native language, young adults who’ve built their lives here. Young lives who’ve made friends, families, relationships all here in a country that does nothing but fail them and treat them like they are trash. We spend thousands on an education to better the country through our career, spend thousands of dollars in taxes to better our communities, and what do they get? They get their rights taken away from them, DACA is not unconstitutional in any way what so ever!!! In fact it’s the most constitutional way to reside in the county you were not born in. People act as if people born outside of this country are a threat to their precious country. They are just trying to stay alive!!! Feed their families!!! Those whom believe DACA should be removed have never faced those hardships and that is exactly why their arrogance and lack of compassion is what’s failing this country, not immigrants. My faith in humanity has perished and this was the nail in the coffin. God bless this country, they need it.
3
Indeed President Obama did overstep legal boundaries with his decree to allow large numbers of illegal aliens, resident within the US, to suddenly be "protected".
What immigration law did DACA belong too? What congressional vote supported it.
The founding fathers did not support Kings in the US, and, did not support decrees by a King.
So, now, here we are.
16
America showed stealth and strength forty years ago, in participating in The International Year of The Child (1979).
Until the Trump Administration can clear itself from a gunburst of growing allegations of corruption, betrayal and treason, please leave Our Dreamers safe and sound.
2
The president couldn’t care less. So long as he negates every ounce of Obama’s legacy. It’s not about the kids. It’s revenge.
15
How cruel can an administration be?
7
One president rams it through an executive action; another ends it.
What is the problem...?
9
Welcome to the maniac's lasting impact on the USA or what might be left of it when he is gone. The right-wing court will last for years and will help end civil rights as we have known it.
The court will be the so-called "legal" backing for a dictator.
Heaven help us all.
6
The best way to resolve this issue—and so many others—is a change of administration and a change in Senate control. Vote.
6
The supreme court, well Uphold it!
As an old FDR/JFK Liberal I have always been concerned that Ultraliberals were going against reality and that their programs would fail.
When Obama set up DACA he bet that no future president would be so heartless as to reverse a program for people who Ultraliberals were calling Dreamers.
It looks like Obama might be losing that bet as this unrealistic term Dreamers comes up against the provisions of the Immigration Act of 1965.
Obama, to me, was a good president but he “wasted a crisis” in the Great Recession when he did not use it to end the Age of Reagan and change the trajectory of the nation.
Instead of listening to Rubin and the Neoliberals he should have listened to Krugman and the Keysenians and instead of focusing on the ACA he should have ended Reaganomics by re-regulating the financial markets for economic stability, and returning to the tax structure of FDR to create jobs.
Is DACA going to another Ultra liberal cruel hoax like “if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor”?
Ultraliberals do Liberalism no favors if their programs cannot stand up to the realities of this world, indeed their programs can be counterproductive.
9
One's country "ultra-liberals" as you call them are an other "moderates", and it so happend that on some significant and problematic thematics many countries can now give lessons to the USA on how to better deal with said thematics.
And let us not forget that the so called "realities of this World" is just a convenient and/or lazy way of denying both any idea of change and the fact that we humans wholly shape our societies.
2
@Coureur des Bois It was that ultra liberal, Ronald Reagan, who gave amnesty to three million undocumented immigrants.
2
@Bashh I would call that the Tip O’Neill amnesty and it was done through real legislation agreed to by both Dems and Reps.
Obama used an Executive Order with no guarantees that it would not be reversed by another president.
1
Trump says “Many of the people in DACA, no longer very young, are far from ‘angels,’” he wrote on Twitter. “Some are very tough, hardened criminals.”
But according to Wikipedia "Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is an American immigration policy that allows some individuals with unlawful presence in the United States after being brought to the country as children to receive a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation and become eligible for a work permit in the U.S. To be eligible for the program, recipients cannot have felonies or serious misdemeanors on their records."
So is the President of the United States lying again??!!
9
Many Dreamers are veterans. Just yesterday Trump claimed to support veterans.
6
The crowd that lied us into Iraq and that scorns empirical science is to be believed when they say this is what's best.
As cruel as it is wrong.
4
I support DACA. It would be tragic to send these young people back to a country they do not know. I believe in a compassionate nation, not a vindictive one. All Trump is doing is destroying everything he can that Obama did. He is vindictive and cares little for anyone that gets hurt.
7
Who are we if we do not support DACA? What does it mean to be an American if we peremptorily throw these people out of the country and send them to places where many of them do not even have relatives, or anyone who would take them in?
Once again, Trump is making a claim that he has no basis for, that many of them are 'hardened criminal's. To deport this multicultural, diverse class of people, many of whom have amply shown their allegiance to the American way of life, is the act of a hardened despot.
3
With the leak of hundreds of email messages from Trump advisor Stephen Miller to right wing Breitbart, it is now been documented the extent of his white supremacist nationalism, racism and bigotry. Miller would not be a top Trump advisor with those extremist views unless Trump shared them. No doubt they are celebrating the “Republican” perversion of the Supreme Court.
5
@Noah Fecht
Yes, thank you. Go to the website for Southern Poverty Law Center to read the emails.
2
One way to rid the voting pool and the courts support it.
1
Supreme Court Conservatives to the DACA Dreamers: "Let them eat cake!"
4
Let me guess. . .
By a 5-4 decision.
5
Dear Dreamers, COME ON!
Why dont you just cross the border and come to Canada right now?
You would receive free healthcare, prescription drugs half paid by the government for every member of the family, free tuition up to and college included, no shootings in schools, churches, shopping malls, MacDonalds, etc.
And as a bonus, all shops, businesses, city councils, government agencies are desperate and show big posters and blinking signs: "WE ARE HIRING!"
6
@Ray Chalifoux
Yes, they're hiring so much that full time jobs were lost, real wages decreased and half of Canadian university graduates in STEM have left for the US.
7
If 700,000 Americans got together on the Internet and decided to not pay our taxes anymore, should we and our children get automatic immunity forever?
10
You are just saying what's truly in your heart; you really don't want to pay your taxes. Meanwhile, I've met many of these 'Dreamers,' and they WANT the opportunity to pay their taxes. Maybe, 700,000 Americans should better decide that only people who WANT to pay their taxes should be considered American citizens.
3
@Steven
Did you meet any street food vendors who are operating illegally because they don't want to pay the permit fees?
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/12/nyregion/churro-lady-subway-vendors.html
Many of these people are undocumented, and don't seem to have any interest in emerging from the underground economy. But hey, they make really great churros, so I guess that's okay.
2
A Supreme Court dominated by conservative Catholic judges might well be reminded that the Church’s teachings are antithetical to their cruelty.
The GOP is the party of cruelty and inhumanity, and has long been such. Trump is only the figurehead of a 50 year old push by conservatives to punish the poor, people with color, and anyone not born wealthy.
Elections have consequences. If you voted third party or cast a protest vote, you actions led to the nightmare we’re facing. Casting that vote because your privilege allows you to meant a SCOTUS stacked to do unto others that which won’t happen to you. Consider the world beyond your bubble.
6
Please SCOTUS explain how a child born to a US Citizen overseas can with an application to INS become a US citizen and someone else who lived most of their life in US and are productive citizens cannot be a US citizen and must leave?
3
If the Supreme Court turns its back on DACA kids, that is just one more compelling reason to boot Republicans out of power, then pass the necessary legislation to protect them.
4
That is exactly what I think Trump will do after he "wins" this battle:
"Perhaps we should be instituting a program where we weed out the troublemakers and those who refuse to fit in and send them packing while leaving the good people alone."
To his credit, buffoon or not, Trump did ask his opponents to come up with some DACA suggestions, and they didn't. That won't change the fact that most Americans (I included) don't feel DACA people should be punished for long-ago "sins" of their parents. However, I very seriously doubt that Trump will (and he shouldn't) give up his right to deport the "bad guys." Trump's opponents should have proposed a compromise, which they didn't, thus leaving the decision entirely to Trump. But that doesn't change the inescapable fact that nearly all Americans want a solution that enables at least the "good" DACA people to stay.
2
@Commenter
Nearly all Americans except those who immigrated legally and greatly sacrificed to do it.
But who cares about them, right? They were the suckers who thought laws meant something.
2
@Commenter
Why are you quoting/misquoting other readers' comments? Why not just respond directly if you have something to say to that person? Not interested in having a back and forth dialogue?
Even if Trump wanted to keep the kids here, he wouldn’t. He needs to erase every ounce of Obama’s legacy. It’s not about the kids. It’s about Obama being a better man and the president’s fragile ego.
6
I wonder what the "conservative" wing of SCOTUS would have had these kids do? Perhaps they should have had the presence of mind back when they were children and their parents brought them here to:
A) be aware that they had crossed a border,
B) know the significance of that and understand the concepts of borders and countries,
C) know that this was illegal and then
D) demand that their parents take them back because they were breaking the law.
This is nothing more than punishing children for the sins of their parents.
And I'll believe that this "administration" has a zero tolerance policy toward illegal immigration when I start seeing the people who profit from hiring illegal immigrants doing perp walks on the evening news. Somehow they always seem to get off scot-free and I don't think it's because they run faster than the immigrants.
4
The Supreme Court answer self deport. These folks gave the government all personal information as a condition of remaining in DACA. Rounding them up simple enough. But, allowing Trump to blame the Courts for his decision to end DACA is plain for all to see.
We could easily make room for the DACA people and other immigrants, by getting rid of some of Trump's supporters.
I mean the people Trump says he loves, like the uneducated, who are likely a bigger drain on our government than the immigrants Trump demonizes.
Of course, what Trump really means is, "I love the easily manipulated".
These people think their number came in with Trump's election.
When the truth is their lives will get worse as time passes.
6
Its about what keeps Trump in power. If his base demands cruelity on black and brown and Trump thinks that position is politically more favorable for him, that's what Trump will do. Trump will do anything, inflict any cruelity in his bid to stay in power.
5
I hope Dreamers have recourse for a class action suit against the gov't after being promised confidentiality in exchange for providing their personal information.
The US under Republican rule lies to its children, reneges on international treaties, exports corruption, does not support its allies and harms children to dissuade immigrants. I am ashamed.
1
Good for the SCOTUS. As a nation of laws, we do not reward lawbreakers.
8
Kicking out the dreamers is like shooting ourselves in the foot. The US has already paid to educate these kids, they're screened so no crimes, they're enrolled in school and often very high achieving. And just about to start working and paying taxes to support the older folks who are often so eager to kick them out.
5
There has never been broad, bipartisan support for DACA.
There was broad public sympathy, bipartisan, in support of Congress passing a law that would grant legal status to adults who had been brought to the country illegally as children.
Anyone with sense knew that Obama imposed DACA in 2012 as a partisan political ploy to enhance his re-election prospects and that in doing so had irrevocably poisoned any possibility of a permanent legislative solution to the problems of dreamers.
Public support for dreamers has declined since then. Protesting for their imaginary rights has made them less sympathetic. The onslaught of minors from Central America triggered by Obama's invitation has further deteriorated public support.
In 2009-2012, it would have been possible to pass a law granting legal status and a path to citizenship for the two million individuals who had arrived prior to 2009 as children. Today, the best DACAs can hope for is permanent guest worker visas. And that does not address the children who entered illegally in 2009-2010, estimate unknown.
What is tragic about the federal court decisions that blocked Trump is that Congress was well on its way to compromise when the federal courts interfered.
But Democrats are happy. DACA got Obama re-elected in 2012 and the federal courts sustaining it flipped the House in 2018. Clever partisan devices. Dreamers were pawns for their masters.
13
It turns out that the Dreamers weren’t the only ones relying on good faith. We are learning every day, that for a democracy to function, its citizens must practice their roles in good faith. If half of them don’t, then democracy fails.
4
The immigration policies in our country are in shambles, yes. However, these 700,000 dreamers were given hope by our presidents and we should stand by those decisions. Yes, maybe some of the dreamers are outside the parameters of the program requirements, and they should be handled on a case-by-case basis. It seems the present administration is wrecking every program designed to help the most vulnerable people in our society.
“I do not favor punishing children,” Mr. Trump said in his formal announcement of the termination. But, he added, “the program is unlawful and unconstitutional and cannot be successfully defended in court.”
Seriously, this is the one thing he decides is unconstitutional? Trading military aid for campaign dirt. Nope. Using the Office of the President to promote personal business. Nope. Declaring that Congress does not have the right to investigate the President or seek testimony from his staff. Nope.
But, instead, he chooses to upend the lives and futures of 700,000 people who have not done any of us harm.
9
Well if Trump prevails then we all know what to do come Election Day 2020. And those who live in swing states will get to show the rest of the world what really they stand for.
1
This is a very tough situation for a Justice. No one (you’d assume) wants these folks deported, but it’s hard to find a legal basis for them to stay. Judges are supposed to follow the law, however they feel about it personally. And sadly the law seems clear in this case. I’m sure they are not enjoying this.
4
Just one more decision that will erode the legitimacy of the Supreme Court. The destruction of American democracy continues apace.
4
I am sorry but it seems like poor reasoning to insist that
(1) A president (Obama) can start a program by executive order.
(2) But another president (Trump) cannot end it.
I don't even see why the next president needs to give any justifications for it. Why can't the current administration just say "We didn't like the executive order from the previous president, and so we are rescinding it." Why isn't that sufficient?
Suppose the next president after Trump wants to rescind the executive order involving the travel ban from the 5 countries. Do we really want to force that administration to have their reasoning checked by Trump appointed justices?
8
The event that makes it all clear to American voters. Ironically it will cost Trump dearly.
1
This is a very sad time in our history when our SCOTUS decides that all these young people who have served in our military, work in healthcare, and have contributed to our country in so many beneficial ways are now knifed in the back. This seems to be what Trump and the republicans do ... they knifed our allies, the Kurds.
4
The program sounds a bit shady to begin with. Most of the dreamers should realize that they are absolutely dependent on the good faith of US. The good faith died with Trump. People should have explored other avenues long ago. Children of course should be exempt from this rule, but adults should make sure anyway that they have some place to go should US terminate this program.
3
I wish our Supreme Court had delayed the arrival of Trump's draft-dodging grandfather a century ago.
The world would be so much better off now.
9
@Captain Nemo - Don't forget that grandpa was deported from his home country of Bavaria for draft-dodging AND tax evasion. Then, he moved to Seattle and opened a brothel.
2
Another reason not to trust The United States while Trump is president. He will honor no agreement, especially one initiated by Obama. America’s word means nothing under his tenure. Every pact can be broken at his whim and caprice. Very sad for all who suffer under his mean spirited policies.
5
The five GOP members of SCOTUS are happy to have fractured opinions. I remain unimpressed by Roberts for this, among other reasons. He recognizes corporations as humans so seems to have flunked biology. He doesn't see racial discrimination though he was raised in a state with a long history of violent racial attacks. None of them think women have the brains to handle their own health. DACA recipients have proved their mettle and these pedestrian men will likely tell them "tough luck." Small men with big jobs without the majesty required.
5
It has been almost 3 years since the 2016 election and each day many are learning the hard way that elections have consequences.
In this case, consequences of a Trump election include Gorsuch and Kavanaugh and whole slew of conservative judges on the lower courts, people Hillary Clinton would have never nominated if she were President.
Given that voter turnout was ~56% in 2016, lets hope those who stayed home, because they were either non-plussed or not enthused by Hillary Clinton, now realize the error in their thinking, and decide to vote in 2020. Many people's lives depend on it.
23
@RM: Everybody can expect death to be a better place as result of the machinations of these theocrats.
1
Under the Paris Accord, the US and other "developed" countries committed to transfer vast sums each year to the "undeveloped" countries, whose agreement to pollution targets is entirely conditional on their timely receipt of these vast sums:
"Trump [is] the one who is pulling out of the Paris accord ... "
True, the developed countries are to get "credit" for climate-related investments made in undeveloped countries by private companies or individuals in the developed countries. But so far that amount appears to be a whopping $0, and that is not likely to change. Any "shortfall" must be made up by the governments of the developed countries. One wonders whether proponents of the Paris Accord will still favor it when they are asked by the US government to pay much higher taxes to finance transfers to, say, India, whose citizens may not even know (or care) whether they have "committed" to conditional pollution targets. (One also wonders, more practically, what happens to the commitment made by developed countries when one of them -- the US -- pulls out. Do the remaining "developed countries" have to make up the US shortfall (as the Paris Accord apparently requires), or is the "developed countries" commitment to "undeveloped countries" reduced (which the Paris Accord does not say)).
1
Looks like we're headed for the 21st century's "Dread-Scott" Decision. If persons act in good faith by following the laws, then its only right that the govt. be obligated to fulfill their promise(s). The conservative wing of the court may be on the verge of defending the notion that the govt. can break its promises.
11
@Mark Andrew The gov't of the US has always broken its promises, to citizens and non-citizens, to countries, and to oppressed groups in other countries. It's the American way.
1
"There was agreement among the justices that the young people who signed up for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, were sympathetic and that they and their families, schools and employers had relied on it in good faith."
Thanks a lot for the sympathy. That and $2.50 will buy a loaf of bread.
10
While I supported President Obama when DACA was announced, I thought how risky this would be to identify yourself to the government. What if a future president had a different view of the value they bring to our country. While not a DACA family, I told my children this would be a mistake for their friends. Sadly I was correct and many wonderful young people are now at risk. I lost all respect for SCOTUS back in 2000 and each year it gets worse.
1695
@Pat Baker As a veteran I served with men who hoped their service would allow them to become American Citizens. What is left for them now ?
Whatever legalistic reasons the Republicans have for denying their service, the result is unconscionable !
314
@Pat Baker I was so worried about that myself.
54
@Pat Baker As an immigration attorney, this is the debate every single time something new comes down the pipeline. We advise immigrants based on past policy implementations and do our best to predict the future - sometimes in err. We did not foresee a Trump presidency in 2012 and encouraged the Dreamers to stand together in unity. And WE are still standing with them now. For many of the Dreamers, this was their only chance at status here. We should celebrate them for taking that chance rather than saying “I told you so” in retrospect. They embody the spirit of the American dream. No matter what happens with SCOTUS, this fight will continue.
157
Why is it "liberal" to support re-writing of the laws by a President (Obama)? I'd call it tyrranical.
17
Please inform yourself. The policy was an administrative decision based upon the law and allocation of departmental resources along prioritization of those resources. Yes. It can be reversed. And the law allows for that. But the current administration did not want to take the political heat for reversing a popular ruling by the previous administration. So it tried to scapegoat the courts to say it was illegal. But administrations make such rules every day. Such as declaring a national state of emergency - which we are currently in by the way - in order to move funds from things like TSA and repairs to military bases in order to build a wall in the desert.
6
@NJ Keith: Liberals liberate. Absent legal resident status, people are subject to bondage in the US.
700,000 Single American Citizens should get married to
700,000 Dreamers.
Precedent?
Don and Melania.
The line forms on the left. The radical left.
33
An acquaintance of mine was a Trump vote. Her son married a lovely woman who is a DACA immigrant whose family has been here for 20 years. She is a successful college graduate. I suspect he was a Trump voter, too. We avoid the subject when we see each other.
7
@TxnLady How would this be different if she or her family were evading federal income taxes or violating any other federal or state law?
Why is the violation of duly past immigration laws different from the violation of any other federal law?
There are lovely, hard working, educated citizens who knowingly break federal law and they are prosecuted. Why are 'immigrants' exempt from laws while citizens are held accountable?
13
@CNNNNC
How about the fact that these kids had no say in the matter?
2
To quote the youth of today, “Yay!” .... and to quote Obama, “Elections Have Consequences.”
7
Yes, even elections co-opted by Russia—or maybe especially those.
1
DACA kids are brown kids. This administration seeks to ban brown and claim its hands are tied. Obama offered a middle way and we have a responsibility to Dreamers to not throw them out and put in harms way. Many are educated productive young workers we need in an aging America. I opened schools in LA that served low income kids some Dreamers. They should not be punished for the actions of adults. Excellent pieces on this by NPR.
162
@ModerateinSF
Actually .. according to USCIS records ... DACA kids are Brown , Asian ( specifically S. Korean ) African , Middle Eastern , European ( most often Eastern European ) etc . e.g. Though the majority of DACA is of Hispanic origin ...DACA kids ( most are adults now ) come from all over the planet .
17
“The sole stated reason seems to have been contrived,” Chief Justice Roberts Jr. wrote about adding an unnecessary citizenship question to the census. That applies to most everything else this administration addresses.
26
This issue offers a chance to correct the intention of a section of the 14th Amendment. Right now, illegal immigrants and visitors can claim Citizenship for their offspring born here and ~ it is a lure for illegal immigration. How about a trade, a quick Constitutional Amendment to end this flawed section, in return and contingent for acceptance of the the DACA members. Both parties could claim a victory. Since the section of the 14th was written only to naturalize the slaves after the Civil War, it is now obsolete. Contact you Representatives now!
6
Let them stay. We have had de facto open borders for years. Once you got here, it is very unlikely you will ever have to leave. Even if here for an agreed upon "temporal protective status" nobody ever expected anybody to actually only stay "temporarily". Once in the country, by any means, you are home free. Obama turned people around at the border and called them "deported". If you got into the interior of the country, you were basically set for life. With birthright citizenship, chain migration, sanctuary cities, and the democratic inducements of decriminalized entry (California has even made it illegal to use everify!!) always higher legal immigration levels and free healthcare for illegals the US is set to hit between 450-500 million by mid century. This will give us the paradise that the left has been working towards for 50 years. However, do not ever say you care about climate change or the environment. Those issue will be dead. Killed by PC mass immigration.
17
@Al No, the coming climate change disaster is brought to you by Donald Trump. He's the one who is pulling out of the Paris accord, rolling back environmental regulations, denying climate science, and in general doing everything he can to make our planet uninhabitable.
Of course, as a result of his actions, many, many more people will want to immigrate to the USA. If you don't like a few hundred brown people at the border, how do you feel about a few million refugees fleeing the climate disaster trump is creating.
9
How would climate be affected if a person is in the US or in another country. Climate doesn’t care about borders. Try again.
3
@Hunter S.: Here in the US, people consume energy at the average rate of rate of ten kilowatts each.
4
"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island
See, Trump and his minions have it backwards. THEY need to leave because they are not in line with this.
26
@Baba It is a poem, not immigration law. Enough of the mythical Emma Lazarus immigration law!
19
@Baba
Hate to break it to you, but the cheesy poem on the statue, written when there were ~60 million Americans ( there are over 330 million now) was never, and is not now, public policy or law. A 150 years ago, when a largely, thru genocide, empty continent might have needed millions of poor uneducated, unskilled immigrants waiting to be exploited by the fat cats you might have been able to make a case for mass immigration. In a world that is in a permanent over supply of people and labor, with automation making this worse every day, no where, including the US needs anymore people. Most immigrants are trying to escape their over populated countries now. Throw in the environmental effects of adding millions more people to the US and we are helping commit planetary suicide for an outdated, PC, misty eyed, agenda.
19
@Robert Thanks for speaking your mind. A poem is not a national and them and it is not the foundation for public policy. I've had enough with these bleeding hearts who are quick to condemn and short-term delivery. I criticize these illegal people all the time I have also help those who were in big trouble with the law. Don't ever try to use the race card or any other card not even the Joker. I despised Trump for his big foul mouth but I agree with him on immigration. I am a liberal Democrat I never voted Republican and I will vote for Trump if he runs this time around. I hate everything he does. Somebody has to stand up to this massive invasion. I don't want America to become the failed Latin countries with massive influx of backward people who will drag us down. I'd rather be elitist than naïve and stupid. I have lived and worked in many different countries I speak many languages and I can say honestly I don't have the time to be dragged dawn with their endless self created problems. You want to have big families you take care of them don't dump them on us because that is what they are doing. They are sending their surplus and unwanted populations. When is enough enough?
10
How was Melania able to come to the U.S. and stay here? How did her parents get automatic approval of full citizenship? If SCOTUS decides against DACA, the three of them should be deported to Slovenia immediately.
94
@Iris Flag She was probably sponsored.
5
@Iris Flag but but they are white people and Christians and good looking by trump standards! Don’t you see these people are exempt from any law applied to brown people?
6
@JG
That has been a controversial subject. This from the Associated Press:
"The Associated Press has found documentation showing that Melania Trump broke immigration law when she first came to the US in 1996 — by entering the country on a tourist visa and then working as a professional model."
3
Follow the rules. Wait in line. Blame your parents if they didn't.
36
@Ami They did all that. Trump broke the rules, and ended the line. Obviously the blame is 100% on Trump.
3
@Ami what line do you think there is? (Hint: there is no "line")
2
@Ami “Blame your parents” is a glib and heartless response to the terrible situation Dreamers find themselves in. They did not break “the rules“ — they had no choice in the matter. To return them to a birth country they do not know, when they have grown up as American as the rest of us, is simply cruel.
9
Almost choked my my lunch reading this,
'“I do not favor punishing children,” Mr. Trump said in his formal announcement of the termination. But, he added, “the program is unlawful and unconstitutional and cannot be successfully defended in court.”'
Trump has shown time an time again that he really doesn't care about:
a) anyone other than himself, no matter the topic
b) the law or the Constitution
c) how any of his words and actions will impact the future of our nation
So, let me guess... at this point Stephen Miller is preparing the deportation orders for these children.
1215
Deportations and separating families was also legal in Germany in the 1930s. If the Supreme Court allows this, we no longer have an independent judiciary. Second-guessing the executive branch's reasoning is the job of the Supreme Court, a separate and equal branch of the federal government.
101
@Tired of Complacency -which is quite ironic, since I'm sure Mr. Miller had ancestors that "awaited deportation orders", or somehting worse, back in the 1930's. But I guess Mr. Miller has "evolved".
49
@Tired of Complacency A lot of them are now adults.
8
Q: What is conservatism?
A: Conservatism is the domination of society by an aristocracy.
Q: What is wrong with conservatism?
A: Conservatism is incompatible with democracy, prosperity, and civilization in general. It is a destructive system of inequality and prejudice that is founded on deception and has no place in the modern world.
11