The Quote Below—More Misinformation from the Media
“The Supreme Court ruling Thursday at least temporarily protecting about 650,000 young immigrants known as ‘dreamers’ from deportation merits a national sigh of relief but provides no basis for celebration.
“The justices, by a 5-4 decision, blocked President Donald Trump from ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program created by President Barack Obama in 2012. But the majority ruling by Chief Justice John Roberts and the four liberal members of the high court turned on the Trump administration’s failure to take the proper procedural steps – “to provide a reasoned explanation for its action.”
“In other words, this battle isn’t over. While Trump probably won’t have time to cure the error in his current term, he certainly will if he’s reelected. It’s yet another reason why those who care about developing a humane and comprehensive immigration policy for this nation of immigrants must vote in the Nov. 3 presidential election.
“For decades, Congress and the executive branch have failed to fashion a deal. During his term, Trump has nixed bipartisan attempts. Meanwhile, the president has rallied his base by fueling xenophobia toward immigrants, especially people of color. . . .
The DACA program provides just a glimmer of that hope for a relatively small group of immigrants. These are young people who were brought to the United States illegally as children. Most have been here more than a decade and don’t know any other home. . . . – Supreme Court DACA Ruling Leaves Voters to Stop Trump Xenophobia, Editorial Board, The [San Jose] Mercury News, 6/20 [Link]
Fact Check of Quote Above: The argument for offering some kind of legal status to so-called “dreamers” is somewhat compelling. As children, they did not knowingly and willingly break our immigration laws. Perhaps some arrangement can be made for them. But this editorial completely ignores a key fact. Under our system of government, Congress has the authority to make laws, not the president.
For a number of years Congress refrained from granting legal status to the DACA aliens. President Obama was upset about this inaction, but he stated on several occasions that he had no legal authority to do anything about it. The following is one of his statements on this topic:
“America is a nation of laws, which means I, as president, am obliged to enforce the law. . . . With respect to the notion that I can just suspend deportations through executive order, that’s not the case. . . . There are laws on the books by Congress that are very clear in terms of how we are to enforce our immigration system that for me to simply through executive order ignore those congressional mandates would not conform to my appropriate role as president. . . .
“Now, I know some people want me to bypass Congress and change the laws on my own. Believe me, the idea of doing things on my own is very tempting. . . . But that’s not how our system works. . . . That’s not how our Constitution is written.”
Unfortunately, President Obama decided to yield to that temptation after facing heavy pressure from illegal alien advocates in his party. He granted legal residence to the DACA residents and the right to work in this country.
Given this gross illegality of DACA, President Trump was right to call for its repeal. The issue is not “xenophobia” or racial prejudice—as this editorial alleges. It is whether we have the rule of law, or whether we do not. The president has affirmed that Congress must first decide whether DACA becomes law. Nevertheless, he also has indicated that he would sign a DACA bill if Democrats would approve other measures which would help combat illegal immigration. Such a compromise would make sense, but the Democrats prefer to keep the DACA issue unresolved to get a political advantage.
The Supreme Court ruled against the Trump Administration on grounds of the procedure it used to repeal DACA, rather than the legality of the program. The administration should try again. Our rule of law requires it.