U.S. Sen Tim Kaine holds a roundtable with DACA program recipients and advocates at the Richmond Public Library. (Photo courtesy Kaine's office)
During a trip home from Capitol Hill this week, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine met privately with four recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program — also known as “Dreamers” — at the Richmond Public Library to learn more about their concerns in light of the Trump administration’s decision in September to phase out the program.
Kaine’s roundtable session fell at the beginning of what could be a pivotal week for deciding the fate of DACA recipients. President Trump gave Congress six months — until March 6, 2018 — to act when he announced his administration was rescinding the Obama-era protections for undocumented immigrants who arrived in the U.S. before 2007 and under the age of 16 (the average age of childhood arrivals is 6 1/2), but Democrats – and some Republicans — in both chambers have been pushing for a solution before the Christmas recess.
The name “Dreamers” stems from the proposed DREAM Act, for Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors. Enacted through execution action by former President Barack Obama in 2013, DACA protects these immigrants from deportation and allows them to obtain a work permit, a driver’s license and in-state tuition.
“I was very disappointed when President Trump announced in September that he was going to end the program in six months,” Kaine said. “I viewed it as a broken promise. He had said during the campaign, 'These Dreamers are great kids, they won't have anything to worry about with me.' But the one little piece of what he said, which I can't argue with, is 'Congress should fix this.' ”
In Virginia alone there are more than 13,000 “Dreamers,” and Kaine’s visit to Richmond on Monday was his third meeting with DACA recipients across the state in recent months. Congress is expected to vote on a bill by Friday providing government funding past Dec. 22; some Democrats have sought to tie DACA protections to their support for the spending measure, but it's looking unlikely that there will be action on the immigration matter until January.
“A statutory fix is better than an executive action,” Kaine said. “I supported President Obama's executive action — he had the right to take it, I’m glad that he did — but the problem with an executive action is what we're seeing. … Now we have an opportunity to fix it, and there's an increasing number of Republicans coming out for the fix, and we can do it and we can do it this week. This is not an issue where you have to think through new ideas — everybody knows the issue.”
Some conservatives labeled Obama’s executive action — which circumvented a lengthy legislative process — unconstitutional and a gross overstep of presidential power. Current White House officials cited anticipated legal challenges to the program from Republican attorneys general in nine states. While Trump has expressed sympathy for the approximately 800,000 immigrants in the DACA program nationally, he also criticized Obama’s executive action and said he wants to see tighter restrictions on immigration.
“Regardless of which party controls the White House and Congress, protecting and restoring the rule-of-law is a principle I will always stand for,” Virginia Rep. Dave Brat, R-7th District, said in a statement released by his press secretary. He said he supports the Trump administration’s decision to rescind DACA, which he calls unconstitutional. “As a nation, we cannot continue to pick and choose which laws to follow.”
Brat, who is a member of the House Freedom Caucus, is among Republicans who have said they could support DACA protections only if those are paired with enforcement measures such as an e-verify system to prevent hiring of undocumented workers, elimination of the diversity visa program and discouraging “chain migration.” Discussing his work on such legislation during an appearance on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle” last month, Brat said he thinks these measures “represent the will of the American people.”
“Enforcing current immigration law, cutting off the jobs magnet, ending chain-migration, and preventing further surges at the border needs to be our focus moving forward,” Brat said in his statement. “Why can’t [Democrats] support an immigration system that benefits the blue-collar worker, the American family and our students?”
For the affected Virginians Kaine has met with, what’s at stake is more than partisan politics. Yanet Amado, a 22-year-old Virginia Commonwealth University student who met with the senator Monday, said this is the only home she knows.
Kaine talks with VCU student Yanet Amado (photo courtesy Kaine's office)
Amado has lived in the U.S. since her family emigrated from Mexico when she was 6 years old, but unless Congress comes up with a solution, she will be at risk of deportation after her protected status expires in the fall of 2018.
“I grew up here. I went to public school here. I’m a VCU student. This is all I know. Having my DACA status repealed, it's the hardest thing I have to deal with every day — emotionally, mentally and physically,” Amado says.
Still, Amado says she doesn’t dwell on what she can’t control. Instead, she says she takes things one day at a time as she continues pursuing a dual degree in political science and homeland security at VCU.
Bertha Yepez, who also met with Kaine on Monday, has two daughters ages 6 and 7, and is the oldest of five siblings – four of whom are DACA recipients; one is a U.S. citizen — who have lived in various parts of Virginia since 1998. Her family emigrated from Mexico when she was 8 years old.
“As a mom, it's the everyday things, like not having a license right now,” Yepez says, her voice strained as she reflects on her children. “Without a license — taking your kids to school, going to practices [such as] soccer practice, choir practice — we're limited to a certain extent. And just — being, scared, you know? Having the kids ask, 'Why we can't do everything other people can?’ ”
Yepez says that Kaine taking the time to meet with people like herself and Amado is important, because “him representing me is like him representing my whole family.” Kaine, too, says this is one of the most critical aspects of finding a bipartisan solution.
“If [DACA recipients] were forced back into the shadows or deported, it would split up families,” Kaine says. “Some students are American citizens but their parents are not, so they're worried about their parents being deported and them staying here. We ought to be pro-family, including keeping families together.’’
Kaine says he is optimistic though, and noted the increasing amount of support across the aisle from Senate colleagues such as John McCain (R-Arizona), “my good friend and colleague” Jeff Flake (R-Arizona), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), Marco Rubio (R-Florida), Cory Gardner (R-Colorado) and others who are dedicated to finding a solution for these immigrants, who are “just trying to be good, law abiding, contributing members of this community.”
“The polls I see suggest 80 percent of the American public feel like we ought to find this fix for the Dreamers,” Kaine says. “And you know, a guy like Jeff Flake — he's from Arizona, he knows immigration issues very well. He grew up on a ranch with Hispanic workers and has a real sympathy for them … Or, John Cornyn from Texas, he understands these issues.”
Graham and Dick Durbin (D-Illinois), who both sit on the Senate Judiciary committee, introduced a bipartisan DREAM Act in July that would create a pathway to citizenship.
Brat takes issue with this proposal, too. “The [Congressional Budget Office] just announced enacting the DREAM Act, which is different than DACA, would conservatively cost over $26 billion,” he says in his statement. “The United States is an incredibly generous nation, admitting more than a million legal immigrants per year. It is time to stand up for the American workers and establish an immigration system that works for the American worker.”
In contrast, Kaine says a lot of what he hears speaking with DACA recipients across the state is fear. Simple things typically taken for granted, he says, are no longer a given. He rattles off a few examples: “ ‘Can I go to the grocery store?’ ‘If my dad goes to work in the morning is he going to come back at the end of the day, or are we going to find out he got picked up somewhere?’ ‘If I get a tiny little speeding ticket will I suddenly be on the deportation list?’ ”
“People view us like we're really bad,” Yepez said. “That kills me. They think we're here for the wrong reasons — like we're here to take their jobs or to take over — but we're actually here because opportunity is here that we didn't have in our countries. A better education; a house; a car; a TV.”
In the House, Kaine says there has been progress, too. Nearly three dozen House GOP members penned a Dec. 5 letter to Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) in support of passing a permanent legislative solution for DACA recipients before the end of the year, including Virginia Rep. Scott Taylor, R-2nd District.
“DACA recipients – young people brought to America through no fault of their own – are contributing members of our communities and our economy,” the letter begins. “For many, this is the only country they have ever known. They are American in every way except their immigration status.”
The letter goes on to cite figures stating that since DACA’s inception, the federal government has approved approximately 795,000 initial applications and 924,000 renewals.
“Since being approved for DACA status, an overwhelming majority of these individuals have enrolled in school, found employment or have served in the military,” the letter says. “Studies have shown that passing legislation to permanently protect these individuals would add hundreds of billions to our country’s gross domestic product.”
Yepez, who has lived in Richmond with her family for the last six years, agrees.
“We're just trying to do the everyday things,” she says. “I grew up here, studied here, have kids of my own – nothing special, but nothing worse either,” her voice trembles. “Just give us the opportunity just to be here — that's it.”
