I'm tired of reading about how DACA deals with children; that's just not true. DACA deals with illegal aliens who came here as children. That was many years ago since no one qualifies for DACA unless they have been here for many years. Of the 800,000 or so people who have registered under DACA, the average age is 26. Once again, these are not children!
All that being said, we get back to the basic question whether or not people who came here illegally as children with their parents should be given a path to legal status. The most important point for me is that many of these people grew up as Americans. If they lived until age 8 in Mexico or Honduras or somewhere else, they've still grown up here. It seems fair to me to give them a path to stay here legally. I don't want to reward illegal conduct, but at the same time I recognize that no child brought here by his or her parents would have had any ability to stop that from happening. We shouldn't punish them for their parents wrongdoing. At the same time, we shouldn't reward them for that wrongdoing either. That means that these people get legal status, but they do not get citizenship unless they register, obey the law and meet all requirements for becoming a naturalized citizen over some lengthy period (I favor ten years). In addition, when the DACA group become citizens there has to be an exception that the status cannot be used to gain citizenship for their parents (who were the people who brought them here illegally in the first place.)
At the same time, the border has to be secured so that we do not have further waves of illegals crossing into the USA. That means a wall and full enforcement of America's laws.
All that being said, we get back to the basic question whether or not people who came here illegally as children with their parents should be given a path to legal status. The most important point for me is that many of these people grew up as Americans. If they lived until age 8 in Mexico or Honduras or somewhere else, they've still grown up here. It seems fair to me to give them a path to stay here legally. I don't want to reward illegal conduct, but at the same time I recognize that no child brought here by his or her parents would have had any ability to stop that from happening. We shouldn't punish them for their parents wrongdoing. At the same time, we shouldn't reward them for that wrongdoing either. That means that these people get legal status, but they do not get citizenship unless they register, obey the law and meet all requirements for becoming a naturalized citizen over some lengthy period (I favor ten years). In addition, when the DACA group become citizens there has to be an exception that the status cannot be used to gain citizenship for their parents (who were the people who brought them here illegally in the first place.)
At the same time, the border has to be secured so that we do not have further waves of illegals crossing into the USA. That means a wall and full enforcement of America's laws.
No comments:
Post a Comment