DACA: An American Tragedy

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Yesterday a federal appellate court panel kicked the can on DACA. Now the case lands nearer to its day in the Supreme Court, where a super super majority of right-wing judges will likely end some or all of DACA’s protections for the 535,000 migrants enrolled in the program.

• READ/FOLLOW: Bloomberg’s Andrew Kreighbaum with the latest.

DACA is a tragedy that began the day it was announced in the White House Rose Garden on June 15, 2012. “Now, let's be clear -- this is not amnesty, this is not immunity. This is not a path to citizenship. It's not a permanent fix,” President Barack Obama told the press and dignitaries gathered for the announcement.

Cecilia Muñoz and Luis Miranda, Obama’s top Latino aides, looked on from stage right. For four years, the West Wing had resisted a huge, popular, enthusiastic migrant rights movement. Then an undocumented lawyer named Gaby Pacheco literally walked from her home in Florida to Washington, D.C. with a relief plan to shop around.

On the Hill, Pacheco and her tiny posse of fellow migrant policy wonks found Democrats and Republicans to hear them out, spooking Obama’s White House into action. Because unauthorized migrants were not yet permitted on the White House grounds, Muñoz and her deputies arranged to meet the dreamers at a nearby church.

After reaching an accord with the activists, Muñoz had the White House counsel’s office work the weekend to draft DACA. Muñoz and Miranda briefed Obama early in the week. DACA would be announced as a Friday news dump. Miranda got to work drafting Obama’s remarks for the Rose Garden ceremony:

“This is a temporary stopgap measure,” Obama read from the podium, “that lets us focus our resources wisely while giving a degree of relief and hope to talented, driven, patriotic young people. It is —”

Suddenly the president was interrupted with a question from the press line. “What about American workers who are unemployed while you import foreigners?” shouted Neil Munro, then with Daily Caller.

“Excuse me, sir.  It's not time for questions, sir,” Obama told the irate reporter. “No, you have to take questions,” Munro shot back. “Not while I’m speaking,” Obama replied, before finishing his speech about DACA, then turning back to Munro — 

“The next time I prefer you let me finish my statements before you ask that question - is that this is the right thing to do for the American people," Obama explained while Munro talked over him.

“I didn’t ask for an argument. I’m answering your questions … these young people are going to make extraordinary contributions, and are already making contributions to our society,” Obama continued before ending the unusual exchange and promptly exiting the Rose Garden, taking no further questions from the hundreds of press gathered for the announcement.

In the end, Obama was right about extraordinary contributions DACA enrollees would make to the United States. DACA enrollees have delivered for the United States, contributing over a hundred billion dollars to the economy including billions in taxes. Ninety-nine percent of DACA enrollees have graduated high school and 88% are employed. Their special protective status does not give DACA enrollees access to social safety net programs. The migrant youths Obama helped pay more than their fair share into American society, while receiving far less than their citizen peers.

Twelve years later, DACA enrollees are no longer the “new generation” of immigrant youths bringing bold new ideas and energy to the migrant rights movement. The 535,000 enrollees and their millions of allies have failed to get a significant citizenship pathway over the line in Congress. If Trump wins in November, the program itself could easily be weaponized against enrollees, who are required to give the government a trove of data about themselves and their whereabouts as part of the DACA application.

Looking backward, the exchange between Munro and Obama was an unusual breach of White House press decorum, but Daily Caller boss Tucker Carlson was impressed. His reporter had effectively run the president off the podium. Munro has since written hundreds of immigration stories for Breitbart, as an editorial cornerstone of right-wing media movement that has only grown stronger.

Munro going after Obama in the Rose Garden was the first volley in what has since been a coordinated narrative campaign that has only grown stronger against the program, its enrollees, and their families. This is a tragedy with only one serious solution: citizenship. Deporting DACA enrollees would be an embarrassing national atrocity. Keeping them in limbo seems unlikely to play out with an unsympathetic SCOTUS decision potentially on the horizon. Until then … MORE TO FOLLOW.

— Pablo Manriquez in Washington, D.C.

Editor’s Note: This is an example of a post that will be exclusive to paid subscribers when we launch our paywall.