Citizenship Becoming a Nightmare for Dreamers – Held hostage for a wall by trump

U.S. citizenship for a wall. Really? This is the current reality for those coming from Mexico to seek the American dream. Instead, they’re facing a nightmare. Unless the trump administration feels some extraordinary heat from us, legal protection and work permits for this once-protected class will expire on March 5.

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, better known as DACA, was established by President Obama in 2012. He created the policy by executive order after it was painfully clear that Congress would fail to create legislation to protect children whose parents entered the U.S. without documentation. Last fall, trump rescinded the policy throwing the lives of nearly 800,000 young people and their families into jeopardy. This action is scary. So is trump.

Since then, Dreamers all over the country have been looking over their shoulders. For those cities with aggressive ICE offices, the fear and anxiety of the undocumented are on high alert. It would be understandable if those emotions give way to anger and outrage as trump attempts to use their citizenship as bargaining chips for his divisive, expensive wall.

For those who support the inclusion and humanity of all, we should be outraged at the political, cultural, environmental and financial costs of the trump wall. Estimates range from $20-70 billion to build and about $200 million to maintain annually. Prototypes of the wall have already been submitted and contracts are chomping at the bit to get their grubby hands on those billions. I know we can find a just and humane resolution to the immigration concerns and to better spend our hard-earned tax dollars. The Mexican government is not going to pay for this wall and neither will there be any private dollars coming from big, greedy corporations. This trump pet project is about to blow a hole in taxpayers’ pockets!

While the majority of DACA recipients come from Mexico or Central and South America, there are some who come from the “sh**hole” countries of Africa and the African diaspora. It is clear that Black and brown immigrants are unwanted under a trump administration and that people from countries like Norway are preferred. I believe trump made these racist statements; they are consistent with his world view and documented over the last 30 years of his recorded or published comments.

Let’s slow this process down and focus on the important elements—the people, especially the children and youth. This is not just about the DACA young people. Most of them are directly connected to other undocumented people who are connected to documented family members who are connected to non-kin relationships and communities. This is the nature of the human family.

All of us must organize to oppose the racist immigration policies of the trump administration. Those of us in Texas and California have a special obligation since nearly half of DACA folks are in those two states. Immigration is part of the larger struggle for the vision for this country and who gets to shape it, who gets to live it.

We who believe in freedom must keep our eyes on the prize. The prize? The actualization of a democratic society that values and protects all life, and that is invested in the well-being and full development of all its people.