As DACA expires, Congress must preserve the American dream in its balancing act

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EDITORIAL

The Trump Administration’s announcement on ending Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) has challenged Congress to enact long-delayed but badly needed immigration reform that helps all Americans.

But the Republican-controlled Capitol Hill faces a delicate task in performing a balancing immigration act that has eluded Washington for a long time.

President Donald Trump has clearly demanded that he wants legislation in accordance with his agenda of putting Americans first.

“I look forward to working w/ D’s + R’s in Congress to address immigration reform in a way that puts hardworking citizens of our country 1^st,” he wrote on his Twitter account.

He built up further pressure on Congress by pledging to defend rights of forgotten Americans.

On Capitol Hill, Republican lawmakers largely back Trump’s decision to rescind DACA program as they see it an unconstitutional exercise of the executive authority under the Barack Obama White House.

But do legislators on both sides have an alternative to the program, which upon expiry of DACA program in March 2018? And what about the larger question of immigration reforms in the face of new challenges?

How will the people view deportation of around 800,000 beneficiaries who have lived in the United States since their childhood and form a sizable workforce at various levels from labor to academics and Information Technology experts?

With eyes also set on 2018 elections, the GOP Representatives have to weigh a lot of economic and political implications despite the fact that there is a grass roots support for strict immigration programs.

A recent Pew Research study revealed that influx of new immigrants will continue to be a key factor in sustaining U.S. economic growth for at least three decades to come.

Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, who has sponsored DREAM ACT legislation along with Senator Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, signaled to the key consideration on Tuesday.

“The reason I think it will get done now is that the leadership of the Republican Party, including the president, realizes it’s good for the country economically and otherwise to give these kids the certainty they need in their lives,” Graham said, hoping that the lawmakers would act on his proposal, which goes farther than DACA and provides a pathway to citizenship.

Additionally, President Trump’s move also means an opportunity for Republican to deliver where Democrats and previous Republican-controlled chambers in the last decade could not due to political fissures and divisions.

While immediate political and economic factors are likely to be big factors in shaping the ultimate Congressional response to the DACA challenge or broader immigration reforms, the fate of 800,000 dreamers, who have grown up here and know no other country as their home, will also involve the question of American dream opportunity and national morality.

A string of protest demonstrations have revealed that the recipients of DACA have been deeply hurt by the sudden cloud of uncertainty hanging over their lives, careers and future.

Having allowed them to live, get an education and be ready as contributors to the U.S. development, can America turn its back on these individuals who find themselves in a predicament through no fault of their own?

In a changing world economic order, the appeal of American dream continues to attract the best and the brightest to the United States from all around the world.

A wave of recent success stories of immigrants in the critical national security areas including the information technology, innovation, research and industry beg a much broader approach to any immigration reform. Scientists, IT experts, academics and labor workforce give the United States a massive advantage over its international competitors.

Of course, that does not mean that the U.S. should ignore Americans, who feel left behind in the new economy, and President Trump has been introducing a host of measures and initiatives to bring back jobs to people previously ignored. Such measures have the broad support of the public as they seek well-being of fellow Americans left out of the economic race over the last several years.

Importantly, the president has also said America will remain open to highly skilled immigrants.

That reality brings into focus the question of equal opportunity toward fulfillment of the American dream. A recent study says at least 60 percent of the most successful technology companies were founded by immigrants or their children. The success of these companies generates more employment opportunities for all Americans.

The American dream has been at the heart of the idea of America as a place where laws and the Constitution ensure liberty and equality for all – and through that process keeps America a unique and economically powerful democracy.