DACA reconsidered

We have a complex relationship with our elected officials in this country. On one hand, they are elected to represent our wishes, yet we tend to distrust those who rely upon polls rather than their personal principles. A politician with a finger in the air to see which way the wind is blowing has become a perennial negative stereotype.

We’re also rather unforgiving of legislators who reverse their positions. That’s a shame. I would think that any thinking person should be able (if not obligated) to change positions on a given issue when presented with new information.

While I have always been in favor of our country having secure borders, I have supported the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). My position has been informed by personal experience. I was born on an Air Force base in Europe, moved here as a toddler, moved around the states by the military and moved a few more times as the result of a divorce, all before the age of 18. Never once did I have a say in the matter. Kids seldom do.

Ideally, the DACA program is intended for undocumented people who were brought here as minors without their consent. In many cases, the U.S.A. is all they have ever known. Many are in college or contributing to society in other ways. I was surprised to learn that undocumented aliens can also serve in the Military. Given those scenarios, I always considered DACA to be a fair and moral solution.

The good news is that I’m not running for anything and I can change my mind whenever I like. Given the influx of unaccompanied minors at the southern border, I can’t help but begin to rethink my position on DACA.

The numbers from March aren’t in yet, but in February of 2021, 96,974 aliens were intercepted at the border. At nearly 10%, 9,547 of those individuals were unaccompanied minors. As a compassionate, moral nation, I understand our need to grant asylum to genuine refugees, but these are largely economic refugees.

I also understand the benefits of some migration to our economy. Recall that labor plus investment equals Gross National Product. It’s hard to have growth without growing the labor force, but nearly 100,000 per month? Those numbers put a strain on our economy. That kind of influx at the border has other consequences, including support for the “coyotes” who smuggle people over the border at a cost of many thousands of dollars, and for the cartels who are involved in human trafficking and the pharmaceutical trade, particularly in deadly drugs like fentanyl.

Personally, I’m not among those who are concerned about the changing complexion of America. It’s inevitable. We have seen migrations throughout history and this one is no different. I do worry about the political impacts in the short term, but political outcomes result from a battle of ideas, and should eventually rectify themselves if everyone makes a good argument.

As for the unaccompanied minors, they open up a whole different can of worms. We haven’t heard much about it lately, but the last administration talked a great deal about chain migration. In other words, the settlement of this young brood can result in exponential immigration in the future.

What we need is serious immigration reform, but the folks in Congress simply aren’t working together. I still wonder why it takes months for these folks to get an asylum hearing. Do we not have enough judges?

Are we pouring weeks of research into each asylum claim? It seems to me that the process can be streamlined, or at least we can hire more judges. Not all judges are attorneys, but I would imagine that there are some new law grads who would gladly go down to the border to serve as a judge for a year. It wouldn’t look bad on a resume.

I understand that the current administration is hell-bent on undoing everything implemented by the former, but they need to get the border situation under control. 90,000 undocumented immigrants per month is not sustainable. 9,000 unaccompanied minors per month is potentially explosive. My opinion toward DACA is contingent upon the Biden Administration's next moves.