More Misinformation from the Media:
We hear the story over and over again: Americans want a crackdown on illegal immigration nevertheless don’t want their neighbors deported. Don’t deport these people, they say. These are hard-working law-abiding people. . . . We heard the story of Jose Garcia who was deported. . . . We could hear more of these stories if Congress doesn’t find a long-term fix for the DACA program, which faces a March deadline. About 690,000 ‘Dreamers’—Americans brought to this country as children—are enrolled in the program. . . .
A solution shouldn’t be this difficult. . . . The bipartisan deal proposed by Sens. Lindsey Graham and Dick Durbin isn’t perfect by any means, but it is a compromise that Republicans and Democrats can live with. It would grant permanent legal status to Dreamers and would give them a path to citizenship. It would also provide $18 billion in border-security enhancements over the next decade. . . . – Enough Sad Stories: Support DACA and Fix Our Immigration System, The Register’s Editorial, The Des Moines Register, 1/17/18. [Link]
Fact Check: It’s interesting how the editorialists of the Register depict illegal immigrants as “neighbors.” One wonders how many of these presumably well-heeled writers live in neighborhoods where lots of illegal residents live. Certainly these editorialists don’t have to worry about them as competitors for their jobs. They can afford to view illegal immigrants through rose-colored lenses—and regard them all as “hard-working law-abiding people.” Just how these law-breakers are law-abiding is hard to say.
Typically, the media portray the so-called “Dreamers” as a sub-group of illegal aliens who have a compelling case for staying here. They arrived illegally but through no fault of their own, as they were young children brought in by their parents. Being so young, they don’t remember anything about their home country or native language. They have become a part of America and are high achievers in education and various careers they have chosen.
Nevertheless, evidence indicates that the media stereotype of “Dreamers” is not completely accurate, or perhaps a good deal less than accurate. The application process to sign up for DACA was weak on verifying the claims of applicants. A number of them, when they came here, were in fact old enough to remember their homelands. Also, it appears that many DACA applicants are not the scholars and achievers they are depicted as being.
Some of the applicants may indeed have good cases for staying in the United States, but there should be a new application program to determine who they are. In exchange for granting them amnesty, immigration control advocates have a right to demand long overdue steps toward immigration reform. One is ending chain migration. Without this change, DACA recipients could bring in their parents who knowingly broke our laws to come here. Other reforms should include mandatory use of the E-Verify system by businesses to prevent hiring of unauthorized employees and construction of more fencing on the Mexican border.
The compromise proposed by Graham and Durbin is unacceptable. It offers the promise of border fencing and nothing else. Such promises were made in the past and not kept, one example being the 1986 amnesty whose authors promised increased enforcement but failed to deliver.
Supporters of genuine immigration reform will not be hoodwinked again in this fashion. If amnesty supporters want concessions, they will have to grant real concessions. No more empty promises.