IS CONGRESS PREPARED TO DREAM?

On September 5th, 2017, President Donald Trump rescinded the Obama-era policy DACA, or
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, claiming that Obama had used excessive executive
authority to create the program.
DACA provided legal protection for immigrants who arrived in the U.S before their sixteenth
birthday and included both high school students and graduates working or serving in the military.
President Trump gave Congress a deadline of March 5th, 2018 to find a solution.
On September 7th, 2017, Trump tweeted that the current DACA recipients “had nothing to
worry about”.
But do they?
“..In giving Congress six months, with all the other things on right now, the debt limit,
appropriations, tax reform, it’s not certainly on the top of the agenda,” Republican
Representative of Colorado Mike Coffman said, according the a New York Times article.
If Congress does not produce a solution, the 1,451,195 Dreamers currently living in the United
States will face the threat of deportation, 51,402 of which live right here in North Carolina,
according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Here at BHS, ​Congress’s decision could be especially impactful for the 200 English Language
Learners (ELLs).
According to ESL teacher Shirley Carlin, current Broughton students are not often DACA
recipients, though there are several former students who are. Still, current students can feel
alienated by the immigration debate.
“We have many students who are not coming to school because their parents are afraid for
them to come to school,” ESL teacher Kelly Buynitsky said.
DACA recipients play a major role in American society and economy. Out of 3,000 DACA
recipient responses to a Center for American Progress Survey, 90% report that they have jobs,
72% are in higher education, and 80% have drivers licenses - and half of those are organ donors.
“We are a nation of immigrants, and most immigrants come here with a strong desire
to be their best and contribute,” ESL teacher Shirley Carlin said.
There are several DACA recipients making impacts within Raleigh. América Moreno Jiménez
is a DACA recipient and teacher at Garner High School. She recently wrote a powerful editorial
for the News and Observer outlining to role of DACA in her life.
Dan Lee, a student at American University in Washington D.C and a DACA recipient,
described to NPR the feeling of waiting for news on the program’s fate in Congress.
“​It's like when you're on a chair and you lean a little too back and you're just about to fall,
right? And it's like feeling that perpetual falling feeling. I just want to be able to know if I'm
going to be able to keep what I built here,” Lee said.
 Many senators and representatives have attempted to ensure that Dreamers like Lee will be
able to do just that, but most solutions have fallen through the Congress floor.
Congress itself is growing increasingly frustrated with the Trump administration, expressing
their dissatisfaction at a DACA hearing in which they questioned several officials from the
Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice. DHS Assistant Secretary
Michael Dougherty presented a vague outline of Trump’s wishes for DACA, but for a majority
of the senators, a vague outline was not enough.
Illinois Democratic Senator Dick Durbin and North Carolina Republican Senator Thom Tillis
has both sponsored legislation to pave a pathway for legal citizenship for the Dreamers. Tillis
and Durbin both expressed outrage at Dougherty’s lack of specific information.
“We addressed virtually every issue that you mentioned in your long list as part of
comprehensive immigration form. I hope the administration doesn’t use your list...Your list was
the entirety of comprehensive immigration reform.” Dublin said, referencing the reform
legislation that passed the Senate in 2013 but was killed in the House, even with 500
amendments offered.
Tillis supported Dublin, telling Doughtery that his list “reads like a laundry list for
comprehensive immigration reform, and if Congress has proven an extraordinary ability to do
anything, it is to fail at comprehensive immigration reform. We know what the problem is, we
know what a reasonable solution is, and we should provide it.”
Congress has until March to pass such a solution, which must appease both political parties, as
well as the President. If such a solution fails to pass, the dreams of the Dreamers will quickly
dissipate in the face of deportation.

Both Carlin and Buynitsky offer advice for American students looking to help immigrants
affected by changes in policy.
“Introduce yourselves in class. If you notice an immigrant students seeming lost or
struggling, offer to help. Don’t laugh,” Carlin said.
Students who wish to contact a representative and express their opinions on DACA, either for
or against, can text RESIST to 504-09.