From the President
September 6, 2017: The Dreamer’s Nightmare
Posted on December 11, 2023 at 12:00 AM
The dreamers just woke up from a nightmare. Kids who grew up knowing no other country but the U.S., kids who had bought into the American dream, kids who grew up to work in nearly every company in America, to serve in the military, and most recently put themselves in harm’s way to save victims of Hurricane Harvey in Texas, have just been thrown under the bus. They stand to lose their jobs, their right to call this country their own as mass deportations loom based upon information they volunteered to the government with the promise it would never be used against them or their families.
Donald J. Trump ended the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program to fulfill a heartless election campaign pledge. Chief of Staff John Kelly’s “inelegant solution” tossed an “unpinned hand grenade at Capitol Hill Republicans,” according to one official. There is a definite pattern that Mr. Trump has established in recent months — postponing consequential decisions on contentious topics, leaving it to others to articulate a final position while trying to dodge the bullet himself.
This particular decision is both cruel and inhumane.
With Congress set to juggle many major tasks over the next month — including providing disaster funding for victims of Hurricane Harvey, raising the debt ceiling, passing a budget, and addressing the White House’s push for tax reform — it’s unclear how much political capital GOP leaders can expend on this issue. And the legislative branch has an abysmal track record of passing any consequential bill.
Mr. Trump has proved that he is soft on convictions. But his hard-line policy advisers, Stephen Miller, Attorney General Sessions, and his still-influential former chief strategist, Stephen K. Bannon, are not. They believe that a complete and immediate shutdown of the DACA program is essential to fulfill the president’s campaign pledges.
So, Mr. Trump, you build those walls; strip people of their rights; take away their hard-won entitlements; deprive them of healthcare; restore discriminatory practices; create anxiety, confusion, and anarchy — all in the service of white male supremacy and the sanctity of campaign promises. The state of the union is being rent asunder, the fabric of society is in tatters as you continue your assault on our most cherished democratic values.
Nuchhi Currier
President