The Trump administration released a list of priorities that need to be included into any law replacing the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Obama executive order. From CNN:
The Trump administration has asked lawmakers to include tough border security and immigration enforcement measures in any deal to replace the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that the administration is ending. Those measures include provisions to make it harder for unaccompanied minors to enter the country illegally, money for the President’s border wall and cuts to legal immigration.
Executive order versus a law
DACA is not a law. It is an executive order put in place by Barack Obama. Since we already have laws that govern immigration, laws passed by both houses of Congress and signed into law by a president, I’ve never understood how an executive order could take precedence. There’s no denying that an executive order has power. It just doesn’t have as much power as a law.
Donald Trump is an idiot
I don’t like Donald Trump and I didn’t vote for him. I think he’s an ignoramus. I loathe him on a very personal level. With that said, even a broken clock is right twice a day. I understand where he’s coming from on this. We as a people agree bringing children here illegally is a pretty rotten thing to do. How then can we complain when steps are taken to make it more difficult to do just that?
It seems like the moral thing to do, especially considering how businesses rely on this steady flow of illegal child immigration to build their businesses.
If we cannot use the law to stop these businesses from benefiting from illegal child labor, then we need to try harder to keep these children from being brought here in the first place. That means tougher security on our southern border. That even means building a wall.
Why build a wall?
The benefit of a wall is that it’s immune from future executive orders or the future nonenforcement of existing laws. Build a massive wall on the southern border and people cannot come here illegally.
It’s physics. If you build a wall, illegal immigrants cannot come here. American companies then cannot build their workforce using illegal immigrants willing to accept lower wages than what citizens are demanding.
American companies will have to hire American citizens and pay wages in line with our economy.
There is a reason wages have been stagnant in this country for decades. Immigration, both illegal and legal, has been a big factor. Why pay an American citizen a prevailing wage when you can bring a cheaper worker here on an H-1B visa? Once you hire them, it’s not like they could ever quit and go work somewhere else for more money. They are indentured to the business that secured the H-1B visa.
I’m not in favor of building a wall. Building a wall seems like it would take a lot of work and a lot of money. It makes more economic sense to enforce existing immigration laws. Enforcing existing law seems like it would require a lot less work.
When people are discovered living and working here illegally, it’s better to enforce the exisitng law and just deport them back to their country of origin. If the American people don’t like this, they can pressure lawmakers to change the existing law. They can pass new laws that don’t include forced deportation. If lawmakers refuse to do this, the American people can then elect new lawmakers.
I am no longer a Democrat
This is the way our system is supposed to work. Lawmakers should be answerable to their constituents. They should pass laws that benefit their constituents. Lawmakers should not pass laws that go against the best interests of their constituents. The Democrats are failing to do that. If you didn’t know better, you’d think Democrats were representing people who are here illegally, not American citizens. It’s one of the reasons I left the Democratic party and registered as unaffiliated before the 2016 Presidental election.
I still voted for Hillary Clinton. I didn’t vote for her because I thought she would make a good president, I voted for her because she was the lesser of two evils. I not only voted for her, I stood in line to do so.
