Should Dreamers really leave if the DACA deal isn’t reached by Congress?

     After our most recent government shutdown, Congress pushed back the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) deadline to March 5. The reason why we had this shutdown in the first place is that the Democrats and Republicans couldn’t come to an agreement on whether DACA was going to get funded or not. The shutdown only lasted a couple days until both sides decided to buy themselves some time and set a later date for this deadline. Both sides are supposed to make counter-offers to their original proposals to try and reach some middle ground. However, we don’t really know if that is the case. Meanwhile, we have a little under 700,000 young adults who have their future’s in the hands of these Congressmen. DACA is a program Obama and his administration came up with to let these young Dreamers who were brought here as children by their parents to stay and try to live productive goal-driven lives. Under this program, Dreamers don’t have to live in fear of being deported to their country of origin. They can live and thrive as young adults should. They can have the opportunities to go to college, get a job, and become productive members of society. However, if this program gets denied on March 5th then these dreamers can be in jeopardy of being deported. This is why some dreamers are thinking about leaving the country before this even happens. My response to these dreamers is, don’t.

     These dreamers were brought to the U.S at a very young age by their parents. Some of them were just infants. They don’t have hardly any memory of the country they were born in. Dreamers also never got a say in whether they could come here or not. It’s not like a 4-year-old has a say in the decisions their parents make in fleeing their country. So, why are we punishing these kids on the decisions their parents made? Matter of fact, why would these dreamers want to go back to a foreign land they have little to no memory of? Where these young men and women were raised and grew up was in the United States of America. Their lives were spent growing up on American soil. Many of these dreamers don’t even speak the language of their native country. All they know is good ole USA. So it would make no sense for these dreamers to want to leave their home. I know they are scared of whatever outcome Congress comes up with on DACA, but that doesn’t mean they should flee. This is their home as much as it is mine. Most of these dreamers are productive members of our society. They have stable jobs, they go to school, they pay taxes, etc. so they should therefore be entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in this country. This is why dreamers shouldn’t make ant hasty decisions based on the current political climate we are in. They shouldn’t take matters into their own hands and leave to go to a country they have no bearing to. Instead they should let this decision play out and hope for the best possible outcome.

     Congress on the other hand, should take action and let the DACA program stand. If they decide to do away with this program, it will be one of the worst foreign policy stances on immigration ever. These dreamers are not killers or gang members as some would have them pegged out to be. They shouldn’t be punished for the actions of a few outliers and bad apples. Dreamers are good people who have been raised and taught American values. It would make no sense for Congress to potentially send back hardworking young men and women to foreign countries they don’t even no. What would this say to the rest of the world if we forcefully removed 700,000 hardworking individuals to places they don’t even remember. We are supposed to be a loving country that aids people in need and these dreamers qualify under this notion. We as Americans cannot sit ideally by and let this travesty happen. Congress should decide to keep the DACA program intact and let these dreamers live out their lives in peace; like every person in this country should.