What about the 'dreamers' who serve us? - By Leon E. Panetta
By Leon E. Panetta September 4 at 8:24 PM
Leon E. Panetta, secretary of defense from 2011 to 2013, is chairman of the Panetta Institute for Public Policy.
In October 1921, my Italian father arrived in the United States aboard the Providence, one of 1,800 third-class passengers searching for a better life in this country. At Ellis Island, he listed his total assets as $25 and his profession simply as peasant.
My parents became U.S. citizens, but my mothers dad my Nono who had come from Italy to stay with us in Monterey, Calif., in the early 1940s, was not a citizen. In 1942, after Pearl Harbor, some 10,000 Italians living in California coastal areas were targeted for removal because it was suspected that they would be a threat to the country during wartime. The order did not apply to U.S. citizens, but it did apply to my Nono, and he was forced to leave us and move inland. I was only 4, but I can still remember my tears as I struggled to understand why my Nono had to leave our family.
Fast-forward almost exactly 75?years, and again America is contemplating removing people who, though not citizens, have been living in the United States lawfully, serving as productive members of our society. This time, however, the government is contemplating not temporary orders to move inland but outright deportation of individuals from the country. The targeted population are the dreamers, young men and women who were brought to the United States as children by their undocumented parents. They have attended school here, spoken English and grown up as Americans.
In 2012, the Department of Homeland Security created DACA Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals to provide up to 2 million dreamers the chance for temporary protection from deportation and the opportunity to seek legal work permits. These dreamers must be vetted through a vigorous application process. To qualify for DACA, they had to have entered the United States prior to age 16, have resided in this country since 2007 , be in school or have graduated, and pose no threat to public safety.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/let-dreamers-live-the-american-dream/2017/09/04/0b1dbb02-9177-11e7-89fa-bb822a46da5b_story.html
SeattleVet
(5,485 posts)Will we be refunding the nearly $900 million the government has collected from these people if we breach the agreement?
They also freely gave information about who and where they were for the background checks. Will this be allowed to be used against them; to find them, and deport them? Has tRump just inadvertently created yet another Constitutional issue (self-incrimination)?
BigmanPigman
(51,673 posts)want everyone to get legal assistance to help them through this ordeal and stay away from scammers. They offered free legal advice for all dreamers (thank goodness since we all know how much legal fees are). I am glad the speakers mentioned not just Hispanics but also Asians and Middle Easterners are effected by this nightmare. The crowd at the rally was reminded that even before the Mexicans came north to CA they followed the original inhabitants of our state, the Kumeyaay Indians.
"You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us then the world will be as one......." by John Lennon