I'm traveling and can't really talk, but wanted to add this to the conversation: not having papers is a civil offense.
Being transported across the border without your consent isn't a crime of any kind.
Those protected by daca have committed no criminal offense, and are certainly not illegal.
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Wait, do you mean to say "illegal" is a term that applies to actions, not to people?
ReplyDeleteLike, I get the whole "law and order" bs line, but it kind of feels like they are saying "Well, the law says I have to cut off my nose, I guess I'll do that". Ending DACA will literally stop hundreds of millions of dollars just from the application fees, not even taking in to account what taxes they are paying. I mean going by the 2016 statistics, there were 606,264 renewals which at $495 a pop is just over 300 million dollars. There were another 844,931 accepted new applications which is just over 418.2 million dollars. As i understand it this needs to be done every two years, so average about 350 million a year. While a fraction of the overall budget this is still 350 millions dollars. Add to that the tax revenue for these people, and the production losses from the companies losing employees, and all the costs it's going to incur to actually track down and REMOVE these people. It's just stupid.
ReplyDeleteThere are also questions of what is our priority for enforcement and what is a punishment that is commensurate with the "crime" of living and working here. Most Americans with a driver's license break the law on a regular basis by driving 1 or more miles per hour over the speed limit. Generally you don't get pulled over unless you're doing 10 mph over, and you often get off with a warning if you weren't 15 mph over, and you don't act like a jerk. I'll wager that more people get killed by citizens who speed than get murdered by immigrants, with papers or without.
ReplyDeleteGetting rid of DACA is inhumane and awful, but it's also extraordinarily stupid from pure policy standpoint--even from the point of view of fiscal conservatives. We've provided these kids with a free education for years, and now that they're ready to be taxpayers and start giving back to society, we give them the boot? It's a waste of dollars as well as a waste of human potential.
ReplyDeleteAnd I just realized Matt Johnson said exactly that above, but with actual dollar figures.
ReplyDelete