No Christmas for Dreamers
This Christmas, while many Americans will be enjoying the warmth of hearts and hearths with their families, hundreds of thousands of undocumented young people, also known as DREAMERS [“roughly 800,000 undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children, given temporary protection from deportation by the Obama administration.” ([1]Knight, 2017)], will awaken to uncertainty and fear. As the United States government celebrates their passage of tax reform, they are still dragging their feet in deciding the fate of these hopefuls.
“My mom’s DACA expires on December 22nd, the exact same day as the deadline that Congress has to make a decision. Please, Congress, put in a vote. Allow my childhood to continue instead of ending it by separating my family….All I want for Christmas is Congress to pass a clean Dream Act. It would be like a miracle for many immigrant families like mine.” ([2]Lopez & Jaramillo, 2017) These are the words of 11 year old Jasmine Lopez who narrates her story in Teen Vogue this month. She describes a world in which she lives with the uncertainty of the fate of her parents, a mom who is a DREAMER and a dad who is also undocumented. Through receipt of her Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival or DACA her mom was able to remain in the US without fear of deportation as well as work legally and get a drivers license. Still the fate of both Jasmine’s mom and dad remain uncertain as they anxiously await legislation to come from Congress.
“Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced in September that Dreamers’ status–Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)–would expire in March.” ([3]Knight, 2017) This leaves families like Jasmines and thousands more living in fear and unclear of what the future holds for them… [According to Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren “there isn’t ‘plenty of time’ to pass the Dream Act. 30,000 Dreamers will lose their legal status each month. An analysis published in November by the liberal Center for American Progress estimated that 22,000 Dreamers have already lost their status, as a result of an October deadline for renewal set weeks before by the Trump administration.” ([4]Knight, 2017)
“Each year, four million Americans turn 18 and begin looking for good jobs in the free market. But the federal government inflates the supply of new labor by annually accepting one million new legal immigrants, by providing almost two million work-permits to foreigners, by providing work-visas to roughly 500,000 temporary workers, and doing little to block the employment of roughly eight million illegal immigrants. The Washington-imposed economic policy of mass-immigration floods the market with foreign labor and spikes profits and Wall Street values by cutting salaries for manual and skilled labor offered by blue-collar and white-collar employees” ([5]Munro, 2017)
What that means in layman’s terms is that the federal government in their attempt to cover the labor force with low and unskilled workers is in effect offsetting the demand for low cost American born labour. As it stands this plan “also encourages discrimination against American workers, drives up real estate prices, widens wealth gaps, reduces high-tech investment, increases state and local tax burdens, and hurts kids’ schools and college education. Furthermore, it pushes Americans away from high-tech careers and reduces the work activity rate below the rate in foreign rivals, which sidelines millions of marginalized Americans and their families, including many who are now struggling with opioid addictions.” ([6]Munro, 2017)
In a country which has recently come out as being more racially divided than we were aware of, a plan such as the one described above only serves to divide us further. As it stands we continue to focus on racial disparity while the economic divide continues to grow. This in turn speaks to how our current President ran and won his election on the face of anti-immigrant and some would say Zionist rhetoric. With one hand we create an environment dependent on cheap and often foreign labour and with the other hand we make it inhospitable and in some cases dangerous for them to remain within the borders peacefully and without constant fear of deportation.
Knight, Sam (December 20th, 2017) Senate Dems Won’t Get Pre-Christmas DACA Fix, Won’t Shut It Down http://bit.ly/2C5hpSY
Lopez, Jasmine & Jaramillo, Natalia (December 14th, 2017) All I Want for Christmas Is for My Parents to Not Be Deported http://bit.ly/2zeBx2X
Munro, Neil (December 18th, 2017) Cornyn: No DACA Amnesty for Illegals This Christmas http://bit.ly/2BMglU0
[1] Knight, Sam (December 20th, 2017) Senate Dems Won’t Get Pre-Christmas DACA Fix, Won’t Shut It Down http://bit.ly/2C5hpSY
[2] Lopez, Jasmine & Jaramillo, Natalia (December 14th, 2017) All I Want for Christmas Is for My Parents to Not Be Deported http://bit.ly/2zeBx2X
[3] Knight, Sam (December 20th, 2017) Senate Dems Won’t Get Pre-Christmas DACA Fix, Won’t Shut It Down http://bit.ly/2C5hpSY
[4] Knight, Sam (December 20th, 2017) Senate Dems Won’t Get Pre-Christmas DACA Fix, Won’t Shut It Down http://bit.ly/2C5hpSY
[5] Munro, Neil (December 18th, 2017) Cornyn: No DACA Amnesty for Illegals This Christmas http://bit.ly/2BMglU0
[6] Munro, Neil (December 18th, 2017) Cornyn: No DACA Amnesty for Illegals This Christmas http://bit.ly/2BMglU0
