Congress must act to protect dreamers

President Donald Trump failed to demonstrate compassion and heart as he announced his decision Tuesday to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Program, which was implemented by President Barack Obama. Time and time again, Trump has shown that he is unwilling to demonstrate proactive leadership in defense of immigrant communities in the United States.

Trump has called Mexican immigrants murderers, rapists and thieves, and insists that building a multibillion-dollar wall on the U.S.-Mexico border is more important than funding public education, investing in infrastructure. and rebuilding the American middle class through smart economic policies.

So it is telling that a man such as this concedes that the status quo is intolerable, and Congress must act. Let’s be clear — I don’t agree with Trump on most things, but I agree with him on this one point: The time is now for Congress to take action and pass the bipartisan DREAM Act.

Every year, tens of thousands of U.S.-raised students who graduate from high school would be eligible for legal status under the DREAM Act. These students are a diverse group that include honor-roll students, star athletes, artists and aspiring teachers, doctors, lawyers, engineers and U.S. soldiers. DACA recipients go to college at slightly higher rates than native-born Americans and make an average of $45,000, which is also above the national average. These hard-working students were brought to the United States years ago as children by their parents. For most, the American way of life is all that they have ever known and the American dream is all that they have ever aspired to.

These young adults are caught between worlds — between a country they haven’t spent time in a decade or more and whose language they may not speak, and the only country they have ever known: the one that is currently unwilling to extend opportunities for them to remain here. This is what I believe with all my heart and soul: These young people do belong here, and our Congress must take action to allow them to do so.

With the decision to end the DACA Program, federal law has no method to consider the special circumstances of these students. The DREAM Act would eliminate this flaw. DACA was enacted by Obama because Congress failed to demonstrate leadership on this matter and protect these students. Now Trump has decided to repeal DACA to appease his base and to further his political strategy to appear as a “law-and-order president.” However, he fails to understand that the repeal of DACA hurts the kind of immigrants we should welcome with open arms.

The criminals whom he seeks to deport from this country are not protected by the DACA program. This fundamental misunderstanding by the president has led to a tragedy that could cause America to lose a vital asset: an educated class of promising immigrant students who have demonstrated a commitment to hard work and a strong desire to be contributing members of the only country they have ever truly known.

Congress must take action now to protect them or risk allowing these students to be collateral damage in a political narrative that has no place in American society.

This story was originally published September 5, 2017 at 4:59 PM with the headline "Congress must act to protect dreamers."