DACA - What Does it Really Mean?

DACA – Don’t Ask Congress to do Anything
The View from the Middle

President Trump has just given our Congress an opportunity to begin to claw its way back to credibility. So far, this Republican Congress has delivered an epic failure in passing any meaningful legislation. Paul Ryan specifically misled President Trump when he suggested that he start his legislative agenda by repealing and replacing Obamacare. He led Trump to believe that this was a slam-dunk and yet he failed to get his initial proposal through the House and ended up barely passing a weak alternative, which Mitch McConnell pronounced DOA in the Senate.
Then Mitch McConnell botched his effort to pass anything on repeal and replace. This was a slap in the face to the President and to every person who voted for a Republican Senate based on Republican promises to fix our healthcare problem. Finally, John McCain made a mockery of his promises to his constituents and to the President with his grandstanding rejection of repeal of Obamacare in the Senate.
I’m not even going to get into the appropriateness of Obamacare. This is impotence, plain and simple, and is exactly what the American people are sick of. Now Trump has served up a soft ball for the Republicans in Congress. 86% of Democrats and even 69% of Republicans (about 80% overall) support this group defined as “dreamers”.
Who are these people anyway? They are young people who were brought into this country when they two, three, four years old and now are productive citizens. This is not MS-13. These are not rapists, murderers or thieves. They know no other country than the US! Even if we were able to round them up, where would we send them? Yes, we must secure the border as we come to grips this group, but there should be no doubt that these are the very people to whom we should show compassion.
This is the biggest favor that the President could have done for Congress. DACA is an unconstitutional executive order, which was about to be challenged, and I’m sure thrown out by our judicial branch. Even President Obama alluded to this before he signed this order when he said, “I’m President, not a king.” Even after he signed it he said that it was not a permanent solution. DACA was a short term measure meant to give these young people some piece of mind while Congress delivered the appropriate, constitutional, legislative answer which would deliver real security and peace of mind for this group. Of course, in classic “swamp” style, Congress has delivered nothing.
Now is your chance, Republicans. Trump has cleared the decks for you by compromising with Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi (not my favorite people) on the debt ceiling, government funding and Hurricane Harvey relief. There are two messages in this compromise. First, to the Republican Congress - get your s—t together. Here’s an issue with massive public support and you better deal with it now. You’ve got six months you slugs. Get off your dead butts and pass some meaningful legislation.
The second message is also clear. If the Republican majority doesn’t start supporting the Trump agenda, there are things Trump can accomplish with Democratic support. Remember, he was once a Democrat and even ran as President with some very moderate positions on healthcare and even immigration. Trump may turn to the Democrats, be successful and run for a second term…as a Democrat. Not since Teddy Roosevelt has anything like that happened. Now, that would be historic. Is that what this Congress wants to be remembered for?