On September 5, 2017, Jeff Sessions announced that the Trump administration would be ending DACA, the Obama-era program that allowed undocumented immigrants that were brought to this country as children to remain under certain conditions. The “Dreamers” as they were known, had to identify themselves to the government, reach or be progressing toward certain education levels, not be convicted of any felony and be under certain age requirements.
Once Trump got considerable negative feedback, he delayed the implementation of his order for six-months, giving the Republican Congress the opportunity to enact provisions to protect the Dreamers. The need to approve a budget and not shut down the government was perhaps the best chance for Democrats to get Republicans to agree to new provisions. Nancy Pelosi last week said, “We’re not going home without a deal.” It now seems they will be going home with nothing, afraid they’ll be blamed if the government shut down because they took a stand. We’ve seen it too many times before that Democrats were more worried about some future election than a clear and present danger.
In addition to protesting Republican legislators over the passage of the horrendous Tax Bill benefiting almost exclusively the wealthy, including special perks designed to enrich certain individual Senators (e.g. Bob Corker). It seems we need to remind our Democrat friends what it is they stand for.
Time is running out on the Dreamers. The fictional Blanche DuBois depended on the kindness of strangers in, “A Streetcar Named Desire.” The Dreamers might fare better with strangers than the Democrats who seem to shrink whenever truly needed. The next 90 days will show what Democrat politicians are made of? Watching!