Editorial roundup: Congress should support dreamers with reform

Published 8:16 pm Friday, June 26, 2020

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

The U.S. Supreme Court blocked the Trump administration’s first swing to knock young immigrants off their dreams by ending the DACA program. The president vows round two.

Congress should put an end to this bullying.

The court determined the administration’s method for ending the DACA program did not meet legal muster, but left the door open for the administration to try again.

Email newsletter signup

Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the liberal wing of the court. including Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Stephen Breyer. In the 5-4 ruling. Roberts argued the Trump administration had not met legal requirements for ending the program and offered no recourse to the hundreds of thousands of lives it would impact should DACA be ended and the so called dreamers be deported.

Roberts noted all believe the Department of Homeland Security has the right to end the program but must follow the rules in doing so. Trump vowed to do so tweeting the ruling was a “shotgun blast to the face” for Republicans and conservatives.

Congress can put an end to Trump’s attempt to deport those covered under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has vowed to make DACA program permanent with legislation.

Many of those covered under DACA have enrolled in college, have jobs and families and Roberts noted many other Americans including employers and schools would be harmed should the DACA so called “dreamers” be deported.

While Trump has at times approved of the young people covered under DACA, he changed his mind as hard-liners in his party pressured him to end the DACA program. Trump has made an anti-immigration platform part of his re-election campaign.

Business groups and others favor DACA and creating a pathway to citizenship for those young people, many of whom wouldn’t know the language or have family in their home countries.

The DACA kids are safe for the time being, but Congress should act to create immigration reform before the Trump administration tries again to end the DACA program.

— The Free Press of Mankato, June 21

About Editorial Roundup

Editorials from newspapers around the state of Minnesota.

email author More by Editorial