All of you people screeching about the #DACADeal from either side of the aisle need to take a breath, put down you phone and go outside. You have one side screaming that they will only accept a “Clean DACA bill” and any additional border security agreements are tantamount to human rights violations. The other side is screaming “Build the Wall, no Amnesty at all”. Of course, since they just had the meeting and there have been zero votes there is not technically any deal yet. At best, I would have called this a statement of understanding in usual circumstances, but it appears that both sides left the meeting with a different understanding. Two nights ago after the meeting in the Democrats declared victory saying that the President agreed to amnesty, no wall and more of the same nonspecific increased border security nonsense to be named later. Yesterday morning President Trump stated that there would be no deal without a Wall. After picking my way through many of the reports it appears that Pelosi and Schumer tried to use the fact that a meeting occurred to paint a narrative that would drive a wedge between the President and his base through a bit of smoke and mirrors.
Let’s talk about the political realities. If no compromise solution can be agreed upon then there will be no wall, no Raise Act, no eVerify and in 6 months’ time those illegal aliens protected by the DACA EO will start becoming eligible for deportation. It is also feasible that Democrats take the house and President Trump then spends the next two years fighting impeachment. This is the reality. We certainly are not going to pass funding for the wall, get the Raise Act passed or mandate eVerify be used all American businesses because none of those will pass the Senate. Even if McConnell where to change the rules to simple majority this is not likely to happen. There are too many Jeff Flakes and John McCains who have proven that they will sell out their voting base at the drop of a hat. This is a fact and Ann Coulter’s Twitter rampages will not change it. On the other side, most Republicans and President Trump know that just doing a straight DACA amnesty bill is political suicide. It would not be amnesty for just the 800K Dreamers as it would set off the chain migration which would see the numbers granted defacto amnesty swell.
This leaves Americans in quite the pickle. While Democrats want to protect Dreamers, Republicans want to protect Americans. You could make the argument that Democrats should want to protect Americans as well, but truth be told they see the Dreamers as Americans and no amount of arguing the point is going to change this. If there is no deal, we will have continued obstruction from both Democrats and RINOs and absolutely nothing will get done and it is the American citizen that will ultimately suffer. Our choice becomes accepting a limited amnesty or nothing at all. This is the compromise that we need to determine if we can accept.
Now I have already talked about this in a previous post, “Stop Tilting at Windmills over DACA”, but as Republicans control both houses of Congress and the White House we should be able to extract a very good deal from this situation even with the wishy-washy support of some of the Republican Senators. It is simple. The illegal immigrants currently covered by DACA get a onetime ability to be put into a limited amnesty path. (Not their parents that broke the law by bringing them here.) This path to citizenship requires the usual items that are required; speak English, pay taxes and zero criminal activity or gang activity during a ten-year period. In exchange the wall is authorized and fully funded, the Raise Act is passed and eVerify is mandated for all employers operating in America. Since Democrats have a habit of making deals and then never following through on their half of the bargain we tie the start of the Amnesty program to a certification that the border is secure.
This becomes a situation that I believe both sides can live with. Republicans get the wall which helps maintain border security even into the next administration, it limits the impact of the amnesty because the Raise Act ends chain migration and American workers are put first. Democrats get to virtue signal about how much they care about the Dreamers. Normally I would never recommend amnesty because I do not believe you can reward bad behavior. However, doing nothing means Americans simply lose. If the choice is between having to eventually provide citizenship for 800K Dreamers and having the wall or doing nothing at all then I would choose the former. Every year we go without building the wall and strengthening our borders simply means more illegal aliens every year. Despite the propaganda importing a steady stream of cheap labor does undercut Americans in the labor force and places additional strain on our government systems and taxpayers.
A border wall means security, but more importantly while Executive Orders and policies can be wiped away with a Presidential signature, it is much harder to get around a wall when it is already in place. When you negotiate you never get everything that you want. You also must be willing to give up some things to get what you want to achieve. The Art of the Deal is ensuring that when the deal is signed, you walk away with slightly more than your opponent. As the song from the Rolling Stones goes, “You don’t always get what you want… but sometimes you get what you need.”
redstateronin.wordpress.com 