Under the initiative, more than 100,000 illegal immigrants will be granted free healthcare under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. The so-called “Dreamers” will be able to enroll in the program’s health care system beginning next year.
young people impacted by DACA and the DREAM Act are often referred to as “Dreamers.”
The recipients of DACA are young people who have grown up as Americans, identify themselves as Americans, and many speak only English and have no memory of or connection with the country where they were born. Under current immigration law, most of these young people had no way to gain legal residency even though they have lived in the U.S. most of their lives.
Since DACA began, approximately 800,000 people have been approved for the program. To be eligible, applicants had to have arrived in the U.S. before age 16 and lived here since June 15, 2007. They could not have been older than 30 when the Department of Homeland Security enacted the policy in 2012. DACA applicants have to provide evidence they were living in the U.S. at the prescribed times, proof of education and confirmation of their identities. They also had to pass background, fingerprint and other biometric checks that record identifying biological features.
Well, now we know who they are, but ARE THEY LEGAL? That's the fundamental question in this carnival of marginalization.
No. No, they're not. But by law, they are protected from deportation, authorized to work and go to school, get a social security number, and some other stuff. And the only reason they're not legal is because the "We support a legal path to citizenship for immigrants that go through the proper channels" people do not, in fact, support a legal path to citizenship for them, with a bit of help from weak-kneed Democrats.
And now, this article has the audacity to stoke the fears of illegal immigration? Standard Republican politics: Republican solutions for Republican-caused problems.
The recipients of DACA are young people who have grown up as Americans, identify themselves as Americans, and many speak only English and have no memory of or connection with the country where they were born.
You would send someone to a country they have no memory of, no connection to, and cannot speak the language and not call it abuse? They're not being sent home. They're effectively being sent to a foreign country.
Exactly. That's why it's abusive. It'd be like sending a random conservative to Hungary. Though CPAC attendees may love Hungary, I doubt they'd like to be sent there forcefully when they identify as an American through and through.
The only reason I'm a citizen of American is because of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution:
Section 1.
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.
That is, the law of the U.S. defines my status as a citizen of the U.S. by virtue of my being born here.
Still, there are four other ways to become a citizen of the U.S.
by naturalization
by marriage
through parents
through the military
These pathways are all outlined in various laws.
Again, the status of immigrants who are now citizens is determined by law.
I said earlier that "the 'We support a legal path to citizenship for immigrants that go through the proper channels' people do not, in fact, support a legal path to citizenship for them". That is, Republicans generally refused to grant citizenship to immigrants by passing the DREAM Act. In their inability to govern, they did not pass a law.
You make it seem as if citizenship is an inherent characteristic of being born in the U.S. It is not. Repeal the 14th Amendment, and birthright citizenship goes away. Change the immigration laws, and lesser or greater numbers of immigrants can be granted citizenship. You're right, "They are not citizens of America." But they could have been (and could be) at the stroke of pen. It is the law that determines citizenship. While I'm both an American citizen and identify as American, dreamers only identify as American. It's only because of xenophobia that dreamers are not citizens.