Were it not for a piece of paper, you wouldn’t know the difference between a DREAMer and your own children.
It’s time to do the right thing for Dreamers
Think of DREAMers as if they are your own children. Because, other than not having a U.S. birth certificate, DREAMers are as much children of our soil as anybody else born here.
Dreamers durante una protesta en Nueva York.
Imagen Getty Images
DREAMers have had as much of an American childhood as your children. In fact, there’s a strong possibility they attended the same school as your kids or might have even been the teacher in their classroom. At one point, you probably unwittingly cheered for one of them at your son or daughter’s soccer game and might have given him or her a ride to practice. And if your family goes to church on Sunday, your kids likely prayed and worshiped with DREAMers.
Actually, if you’ve ever come to Free Chapel, the church I pastor, I can assure you your kids definitely bumped into a DREAMer. I’m a father of five, and when I look at a DREAMer, I don’t see an “undocumented immigrant,” a dollar figure or a political party. I see a young man or woman who could’ve been my own kid.
This is the perspective I have asked our leaders — including the president during a meeting in the oval office — to take: think of DREAMers as if they are your own children. Because, other than not having a U.S. birth certificate, DREAMers are as much children of our soil as anybody else born here.
Despite a near universal desire for an end to Venezuela’s manmade disaster, sending in U.S forces to take out the Maduro regime would be counter-productive. It should be categorically rejected by interim president Juan Guaidó, not to mention the Trump administration.
The firing of undocumented workers at Trump's golf clubs just shows how the practice of employing immigrants without legal work papers is much more common than we might imagine. Such is life in the United States.
The Trump administration should be wary of fueling fake news predictions about an imminent American invasion which unrealistically raises expectations about Maduro's removal.
At some point we will have to accept the fact that the border between Mexico and the United States is nothing more than an invention.
The United States has had a major role in the evolving drama of the fight for democracy in Venezuela and Nicaragua. And so far, it’s been surprisingly coordinated, a veritable model of multilateralism.
Has the Maduro regime reached breaking point? It remains hard to say, but tomorrow is another - more hopeful - day for the restoration of democracy in the South American nation.
It’s impossible to get into Trump’s head but what comes out of his mouth are racist remarks. But, saddest of all are the millions who tolerate his views, cheer him on and emulate his behavior.
The time is well past due for the U.S. government to conduct a thorough review of leaders and their senior colleagues before they leave office to determine if they merit visas.
As a follower of Christ, I believe our laws should always be undergirded by both justice and mercy. In the case of DREAMers, these values couldn’t be more applicable.
What makes these children, who are now adults, different than the rest in the immigration debate is that they have not committed any crime to be here. They were brought to America not of their own accord. They had no choice but to grow up here — you can’t blame them for building a life here. As Sen. James Lankford put it recently, “If you pull someone over for speeding, you don’t hand the ticket to the 4-year old in the back seat.”
Now we find ourselves two and a half weeks away from Monday, March 5, the day when the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) will effectively expire, and hundreds of thousands of young men and women will be subject to deportation.
Presidents from both parties have had majorities in both the House and the Senate, and they have failed to pass the legislation necessary to protect DREAMers, even though many have campaigned on a promise to do so. We’ve had years, in some ways technically decades, to talk and debate about the fate of DREAMers. Enough is enough. This issue is far too important to let it devolve into political football.
Now, our current president, like most Americans, is very concerned about protecting our borders. He was elected on a platform that called for greater border security, and for him — and many Americans — this is non-negotiable. Still, he has laid out a deal for DREAMers that goes much further than what any preceding president has done, Republican or Democrat. He has offered a path to citizenship that is fair and solves this problem once and for all, but not at the expense of securing our borders.
What’s left to be done is what should’ve been done in the first place: Congress must come together, find an agreement and pass a bill that the president will sign.
We all know our senators and representatives don’t have easy jobs. Negotiating on behalf of more than 300 million people is quite an assignment to take on. However, there are moments when our leaders must simply do what’s right. DACA is one of those moments.
I’m telling my congregation and those who watch my television show, read my books, and follow me on social media to call their senators and representatives to make their voice heard and their position clear. Tell them to come to an agreement and protect DREAMers and secure our border, ahead of the upcoming deadline.
This is the right thing to do. This is the time to do it.
Jentezen Franklin served on the Donald J. Trump campaign’s “evangelical advisory board,” is the pastor of Free Chapel, the host of “Kingdom Connection,” and the author of the forthcoming book Love Like You’ve Never Been Hurt.
Relacionados: