PD Editorial: Trump’s theatrics aside, a DACA fix is needed now

What a difference a week can make.

In an editorial on Thursday, we expressed optimism that congressional leaders and President Donald Trump would be able to hammer out an agreement, one that would give hope to some 700,000 recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that they would not be deported.

The editorial (“Stop treating the Dreamers as bargaining chips”) noted how the president had offered to sign a “clean” DACA extension while Congress worked through details of a more comprehensive immigration reform package in bipartisan fashion. As the president himself has tweeted, “Does anybody really want to throw out good, educated and accomplished young people who have jobs, some serving in the military? Really!”

The answer we would like to believe is no. But we’re not so convinced anymore, particularly given the president’s acrimonious and deprecating remarks about immigrants from “s---hole” or “s---house” countries such as Haiti and those in Africa. The comment, as reported by Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Illinois, came during an Oval Office meeting with congressional leaders gathered to discuss a compromise agreement hashed out by a bipartisan committee. It was the very kind of deal that the president had said he would sign.

But since the president’s comment was reported - and sharply criticized by Democratic leaders and a handful of Republicans - Trump has pulled back and, in fact, has said DACA is “probably dead.” The president’s response appears to be more a reflection of personal vindictiveness than political convictions.

Given that, Democrats are justified in playing hardball on getting an agreement on DACA as part of the debate to avoid a government shutdown by Friday. As we have seen before, nobody benefits from a government shutdown. But it’s also true that continuing to put off an agreement to save DACA and agree on sensible immigration reform - something polls continually show that Americans want - also benefits no one. And time is not on the side of immigrants. The DACA program approved during the Obama administration will expire on March 5, and the president lacks the authority to extend it even if he was willing to do so.

The time to preserve DACA is now, and congressional Democrats are right to hold off on approving any spending bill that does not include protections for these undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children.

If the president truly wants to take steps to distance himself from his incendiary remarks about immigrants, he would support such a plan. If not, he answers his own question about who would be willing to throw out “good, educated and accomplished young people who have jobs.” He would.