It doesn’t take much to understand that our current immigration policies are failing us. As you have likely heard throughout the past few years, the number of those illegally making their way across our southern border with Mexico and into our communities and neighborhoods only grows by the day.
According to data from Customs and Border Protection or CBP, so far this year, over 2 million migrants have been apprehended or caught trying to get into the US. As I said, this is just the number of individuals caught. Unfortunately, thousands more make it over each month without detection.
Additionally, it is noted that we still have nearly a whole other quarter of the year remaining on the calendar, meaning, by year’s end, that number will be much larger.
Of course, one of the many controversies about immigration is that this massive and growing number includes no small amount of children and/or unaccompanied minors.
Naturally, the question then becomes, what should we do with these children. as minors, it’s not like we can just send them back to where they came from, particularly without adult supervision and care.
For the Obama administration, the answer was the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
The project began in 2012 and allowed certain eligible minors to apply for ‘deferred action.’ Basically, instead of being deported as adults, they were granted amnesty and, among other things, a work visa to remain in the US for at least two years. To stay longer, their visas would have to be renewed.
Naturally, there were certain requirements for staying in the program and, therefore, staying legal. If those requirements are continually met, eligible youth, known as Dreamers, could then earn their US citizenship.
The only problem with the program, or at least the most major one, is that, well, to put it quite simply, it’s not legal. Nor did then-President Barack Obama have the authority to implement it.
If you remember, Obama didn’t go through Congress to implement this program. Instead, as his second in command, now-President Joe Biden, has done on far too many occasions, he simply signed an executive order.
As the Constitution states, it is Congress’ responsibility, not the executive branch’s, to decide who gets into the US and who doesn’t. But apparently, Obama and now Biden doesn’t really care about that. Since Congress wouldn’t give Obama permission in 2012, he simply went around them.
I doubt very much that this is what our Founding Fathers had in mind when they created our Constitution and, with it, separation of powers and a limited government. In fact, I know it isn’t. I mean, why on earth would they even create legislative bodies, such as the House of Representatives and the US Senate, if the president could just go around them at a whim?
But that’s exactly what Obama did, all to appease his liberal followers.
And ever since then, there have been those determined to bring the rule of law back to our nation’s immigration system, starting with canceling the DACA program.
Since 2018, there has been an ongoing case against the program bouncing around various courts. Nine Republican-led states have brought the suit forward, claiming the illegality of DACA and demanding its end.
In July of 2021, this case came to a head in Texas, where a federal court found that the program is indeed not legal and, therefore, should be disbanded. Of course, the liberal left and the Biden White House weren’t fans of that decision, so the ruling was appealed and sent to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
The court finally heard that case in July of this year. Unfortunately, it has taken the court until just recently, October 5, to decide on the matter.
The ruling of the previous court stands. According to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, DACA is illegal.
As Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton says, It’s a “huge victory for the Rule of Law in America.”
But, again, Biden isn’t happy with the ruling, as it interferes with his open border plans. And so, both he and his DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas have vowed to make a “legal response.” Just what, has not yet been determined or announced.
In the meantime, all 600,000 current Dreamers will keep their visas and legal status, but no new applicants will be taken.
