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Thursday, October 5, 2017
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THE TRUMP administration recently announced it may end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA program.
The DACA program was an executive order issued during the Obama administration to “defer” the repatriation of hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants who were brought to the United States illegally when they were still children.
Trump’s decision to end DACA was accompanied by a challenge to US legislators to replace the DACA program, which is just an executive order, with an actual law. If US lawmakers cannot pass a bill in the next few months then Trump promised to “revisit” the issue.
Now, it’s worth mentioning that the termination of DACA was one of US President Trump’s major campaign promises, and if it gets passed into law then a lot of Trump supporters will become very disillusioned with Trump, which in turn will seriously harm his chances of winning a second term.
On the other hand, eliminating DACA is easier said than done, mainly because it is heavily supported by Democrats and anti-Trump Republicans. This strong opposition is one of the reasons why Trump ordered US legislators to turn the Obama era EO into an actual law. He wants to turn the wrath of Republican and immigration restrictionists over to the senators and congressmen who support turning DACA into law.
Given what most people know about the ongoing issue, it will most likely end in a stalemate, and DACA will not become law, which means that a lot of illegals in the United States are likely going to get deported.
Of course, if DACA does become law then a lot of Trump supporters will turn on Trump for breaking one of his campaign promises. So looking at this issue from a purely calculated political perspective, it’s a zero sum, winner takes all kind of game, which is to say that the DACA issue could make or break the Trump presidency.
All of this sounds arcane, I know, but here’s the thing. DACA or its elimination will affect thousands of Filipinos in the United States. In fact, according to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, there are 4,655 DACA applicants from the Philippines. So whatever happens to the program, thousands of Filipinos will be affected.
Personally, I support the elimination of DACA, mainly out of principle. I don’t want to live in a country that lets in any illegal immigrant with a sob story, and if there were hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants in the Philippines, I’ll want Duterte to deport them back to their own countries. So in the spirit of consistency and reciprocity, I oppose DACA.
A lot of Filipinos probably won’t like my opinion on this matter, but if you illegally immigrated to a country then that country can kick you out, just as the Philippines can kick out any foreigner who violates our borders. If the Philippines had its own DACA, a lot of Filipinos would oppose it, because it is an affront to our national interests as Filipinos.
So my advice to the Filipino DACA recipients in the United States, come home. Whatever happens to DACA, let the Americans worry about it. It’s not your problem. (jdr456@gmail.com/PN)
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