Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (2012- ), better known as DACA, is an executive order President Obama signed that allows Dreamers (those who entered the US illegally as children) to get temporary papers so that they can legally work, drive a car, open a bank account, get student loans, etc. Most of all, it means they do not live in constant fear of the government deporting them, sending them back to countries many of them barely know.
Dreamers: They are called Dreamers because they were the object of the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, or DREAM Act for short. When after 11 years the Senate failed to pass the DREAM Act – Republicans, led by Jeff Sessions, opposed it – President Obama put as much of it into effect as he could with his presidential powers in an executive order known as DACA.
The president cannot make anyone citizen or give them a green card (permanent residency). But since he carries out the actual deportations, he can in effect promise not to deport you for a set time under certain conditions. Republicans say that DACA is unconstitutional, a case of presidential overreach, but it has withstood court challenges.
An executive order, though, is not a law. It can be overturned by the next president with the stroke of a pen. President Trump has threatened to do just that with DACA as early as March 5th 2018. To stop him, Congress would have to make DACA protections law in the next six month. It seems unlikely with Republicans in control of Congress.
Southern Strategy: Since the late 1960s Republicans have used appeals to White racism – naked appeals in the case of Trump – to get the White vote. Since most immigrants these days come from Asia and Latin America, that has made Republicans the anti-immigrant party. Not just as a matter of (racist) philosophy, but to maintain the White voting majority as long as possible. In the 2020s the number of White people will start to shrink.
To qualify for DACA you must:
- be born on or after June 15th 1981, arriving in the US before age 16;
- have lived in the US since June 15th 2007;
- be in school or have a high school degree or have served in the US military;
- not have committed a serious crime;
- give the government your address and fingerprints (information the government promises not to use against you, though that promise may already be crumbling).
And sign up before September 5th 2017 – when Jeff Sessions, now the head of the Justice Department, said the government would no longer accept applications.
Of the estimate 1.3 million Dreamers, some 800,000 have signed up for DACA.
The “deferred action” (of not deporting you) lasts for two years, but you can renew it if you remain in good standing. Sessions says that starting October 5th you will no longer be able to renew.
Which means the 800,000 Dreamers who “came out of the shadows” could all be deported before 2020.
Thanks to Mary Burrell for suggesting this post.
– Abagond, 2017.
See also:
- Welcome to Hispanic Heritage Month 2017
- Republicans
- deportation raid
- Chinese Exclusion Act
- Cherokee Trail of Tears
- The likely racial future of the US – my opinion in 2015
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Reblogged this on re-presentation.
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Perhaps a challenge should be made to the Attorney General. The Justice Department should not be allowed to use any information collected by the Justice Department under the Obama Administration and it should not be used to deport anyone. The information was given as a result of an Executive Order and the new order cannot go back to the beginning of another E.O. and make it illegal. Only the courts can do that.
Could some lawyer test this thought?
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Good post. I understand this is a big concern for Mexicans and other immigrants. And I hear black people discussing it too. But to be honest this is not our fight. This is not our great issue. We have enough issues of our own to worry about.?
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@ Kushite Prince
“…this is not our fight…”
I think you may be incorrect. Democracy is the “system” of “the majority” which is why keeping the “white vote” becomes an important issue. It effects the laws and “values” which are important to the “majority”. That is why “racism” is also an issue of the democratic political model.
who belongs or does not belong to an artificially defined geographical region? In an era of globalization—the whole idea of what is a “nation-state” and who belongs in it or does not—and why—becomes contentious…..
The U.S. may be “secular” but its values and laws have been influenced by WASP heritage….
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@ Kushite Prince
It is good to see you posting again.
On a purely technical level, DACA is not our (Black folks) fight. We are not the target demographic for DACA.
Once these immigrants become citizens they will be White. They are already on the cusp of Whiteness. Citizenship would just push them over that wall. Right now this is just a White and Nearly White fight.
Yet, Kushite Prince, I personally oppose any targeting and mass deportations because bigoted White supremacists will not stop with one group. If they are successful in pushing out the Nearly White, they will be coming after Black folk next.
They have already made noises about holding a Constitutional convention to repeal the 13th and 14th Amendments that legally freed our ancestors. The 14th Amendment established birthright citizenship. Birthright citizenship benefits native born Black people as well as immigrants from Asia, Africa and Latin America.
http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/recon/jb_recon_revised_1.html
Both of those amendments had some exclusions. For example, the 13th Amendment allows forced labor (slavery) in cases of criminal convictions. That exclusion forms the basis of the current, massive Prison-Industrial complex that ravages Black American communities to this day.
Moreover, to pass Constitutional amendments, three-fourths of states would have to ratify the amendments. At this point in time, nearly three-fourths of US states have Republican governors and legislatures. They would pass amendments repealing the 13th and 14th Amendments in a heartbeat. I shudder to think of the amendments they would propose: White Supremacy run riot.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/11/16/no-republicans-dont-control-enough-states-to-change-the-constitution-but-its-close/
So, while I understand your point, I urge you to see the big picture. Our adversaries certainly see their big picture and they are prepared to act on their vision.
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So give me your tired your poor and huddled masses means nothing anymore in the era of the regime of 45 and his minions.
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Aren’t there also black immigrants like Haitians and other black people from the diaspora that could be affected by these deportation laws?
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@ Mary Burrell
Yes, there are.
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This 2014 article provides some statistics on the racial/ethnic demographics of the immigrants who are eligible for DACA.
http://www.migrationpolicy.org/news/county-level-view-daca-population-finds-surprising-amount-ethnic-enrollment-diversity
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https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/09/18/black-immigrants-in-the-u-s-face-big-challenges-will-african-americans-rally-to-their-side/
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The young woman profiled in the article is just a little too old to qualify for DACA, although she would have been able to apply had one of Obama’s executive orders expanding DACA not been challenged in the courts.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/amp/black-undocumented-caribbean-immigrant-s-long-fight-citizenship-n557441
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http://undocublack.org/
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“Jamaica, Nigeria, Trinidad and Tobago and the Dominican Republic are among the top 25 countries of origin for DACA applications; together they comprise about 1.5 percent of applicants….”
A whopping 1.5 percent. Still a fight between the White and the Nearly (so close they can taste it) White.
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@Solitaire: Thanks
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@ Mary Burell:
A lot of the Haitians are walking over the border into Quebec.
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2017/08/05/montreals-olympic-stadium-becomes-refugee-shelter-as-haitian-arrivals-seek-welcome-in-canada.html
https://globalnews.ca/news/3699160/haitian-asylum-seekers-canada-trump-end-protected-status/
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@Herneith: Thanks for that I will definitely read this.
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@Afrofem
Yes you make a valid point. I have often said many of these non black immigrants want white status. They are just trying to get their honorary ” white card”. I know many whiteswashed Mexicans,Cubans and Puerto Rican’s. They make it a point to distance themselves from black people. Many of their countries have a strong anti-black sentiment. I know Mexicans coworkers that said they believed that ” black lives matter” was too divisive. And many are also Trump supporters.
But now some are upset at Trump. So they want support from blacks now??? Such hypocrites! So I could care less what Trump does to them. White supremacy has been on our ass since day one anyway. Throwing us in prisons,shooting us on the streets,homeless,unemployed,crime filled hoods, etc… So we should be prepared for anything throw at us at this point. Know what I’m saying?
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“…we should be prepared for anything throw at us at this point. Know what I’m saying?”
I do.
I also think Black people should think about how White supremacy plays out around us with other groups as the first targets.
It is easy to get angry with hypocritical “whitewashed Mexicans, Cubans and Puerto Ricans…[who].. make it a point to distance themselves from black people.”
I just think Black people should not be so blinded by anger and disgust with their attitudes and behaviors that we lose sight of the big picture. That big picture always includes Black people finding ugliness landing on our doorstep.
Whether that ugliness starts out directed at Nearly Whites or comes direct to Black people, we never get to sidestep the things White supremacists do to harm not-White people.
Thinking strategically means Black people don’t have to love these people to be concerned about what happens to them————–and eventually us. We are all connected, for better or worse.
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Just saw this article in the local paper about the effect Trump’s deportation roundups are having in rural Washington State. They voted for Trump in a big way, lured by his promise to focus on, “drug dealers, criminals, rapists” with his immigration crackdown.
Now that their neighbors and workers are disappearing, they claim to be in a state of shock. One police chief sums up the feeling in Pacific county:
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/northwest/fear-regrets-as-pacific-county-residents-go-missing-amid-immigration-crackdown-police-chief-neighbors-kind-of-in-shock-after-immigration-arrests-in-pacific-county-immigration-crack/
Really? It is hard to believe that these people couldn’t see this coming. Their nativism blinded them.
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@Afrofem: Your post reminds me of a post i read after 45 was elected President of a Mexican couple that have lived in the United States for over 30 years, they owned a business and were living middle class in the suburbs. They voted for 45 and the irony was the husband ended up getting deported. So, i totally understand what you described “Their nativism blinded them.” I guess they let whiteness whitewash them.
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@ Mary Burrell
Yes. They thought he was talking about the “other Mexicans”.
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