You’re the CEO of the most successful company on the planet.
You have competition that wants to push you out of business or at least reduce your market share.
You’ve invested $100 billion in an up and coming project that is already contributing billions annually to your success.
And now you have people in your firm’s management pressing you to turn that project over to the competition.
The odds are you would utter two words that have become synonymous with the President-elect.
You’re fired.
Keep this in mind when recapping what Donald Trump said about DREAMers in an interview with NBC News on Sunday.
DREAMers — an acronym the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act — are those brought here illegally as children and are now adults that are caught in a legal twilight zone.
Here’s what was said:
NBC’s Kristen Welker: “What about DREAMers, sir? . . . You said once back in 2017 they, quote, ‘Shouldn’t be very worried about being deported.’ Should they be worried now?”
Donald Trump: “The DREAMers are going to come later (after criminal aliens are deported), and we have to do something about the DREAMers because these are people who were brought here at a very young age. And many of these are middle-aged people now. They don’t even speak the language of their country. And yes, we’re going to do something about the DREAMers.”
Welker: “What does that mean? What are you going to do?”
Trump: “I will work with the Democrats on a plan. And if we can come up with a plan, but the Democrats have made it very, very difficult to do anything. Republicans are very open to the DREAMers.”
It is an opening.
And it should be taken whether you’re part of those who have a tendency to become blue in the face, refusing to make any deal that isn’t 100 percent your way, or red in the face because you’re being asked to give an inch.
In fact, Gov. Gavin Newsom should be using speed dial to reach out to Trump on this one given the largest chunk of DREAMers are Californians and play an integral role in our overall well-being in both the Golden State and the United States.
The past three decades and counting have seen both sides of the political spectrum repeatedly fail to improve this nation’s broken immigration policies and enforcement when they were in a position to do so.
So instead of Trump-proofing California for another four years of chaos, why not make a deal that makes everyone winners, and immensely benefits this nation’s bottom line?
There are an estimated 2.3 million DREAMers, three quarters of which arrived in the United States before 2012.
They are non-citizens even though this is the country where they were raised.
They, like their parents that brought them to the United States as minors, are in this country “illegally” with an asterisk.
That asterisk is DACA — the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.
It was a policy issued by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services in 2012 to give amnesty but not a pathway to citizenship for DREAMers.
Save for the “original sin” of being brought to the United States by parents, DREAMers as a whole have been law abiding and contributors to the economy.
This is important to note.
Why?
Because the children of other “illegal” immigrants, born to their parents after they gained entry to the United States, are citizens.
In both cases, they were children of parents in the United States illegally that were brought here (or into the world here) that — for want of a better description — were not old enough to fend for themselves.
Three quarters of those that are classified as DREAMers were bought to the United States when they were younger than 12.
Of the 2.3 million DREAMers, 1.3 million work. The rest are primarily school-age.
There are 190,000 that work in construction, 190,000 that work in retail, 170,000 in accommodation and food services, 140,000 in manufacturing, 140,000 in professional and business services, 110,000 in healthcare and social assistance, and 80,000 in transportation, warehousing, and utilities.
It should be noted nearly half of employed DREAMers work in sectors of the economy, experiencing job-opening rates of 5 percent or higher.
They contribute roughly $45 billion annually based on wages to the nation’s economy.
And they pay $13 billion annually in federal, payroll, state, and local taxes. It includes $2.1 billion into Social Security and Medicare.
If that doesn’t convince you not creating a path to citizenship for DREAMers is akin to Uncle Sam shooting himself in the foot, here’s a little tidbit you might appreciate if you are a taxpayer or an America first advocate.
Of the DREAMers, 1.6 million have already completed high school. Some 250,000 have competed a college degree.
There are also an estimated 300,000 that meet the DREAMer qualifying parameters that are kindergarten through 12th students and another 300,000 in college.
Keep in mind, in California we spend $120,000 educating a student from the time they enter kindergarten to when they graduate from high school.
That means taxpayers to date have spent well over $100 billion during a span of almost three decades alone on education from kindergarten to college when it comes to DREAMers when you include those in school and who have already graduated.
It is an investment that is paying off.
Without DACA, due to inaction that can be blamed equally on both political parties, the 2.3 million DREAMers could be deported.
That is because defining the framework of rules involved in the process of earning citizens is conferred to Congress and not the executive branch.
It would be sheer lunacy just in the health of our economy to pull the rug out from under DREAMers.
Worst yet, we would be sending an educated and skilled workforce to countries that are working mightily to take a large bite of the global economic pie which clearly has a negative impact on American pocketbooks.
Roughly a third of DREAMers are in California.
They are your neighbors, co-workers, those who serve you in stores and restaurants, build homes, serve in the military, play a role in your healthcare, and are even likely people you call friends.
They are people raised in America.
They are people feeding America.
They are people educated in America.
They are people who work in America.
They are people who pay taxes in America.
They are people building a future for America.
America needs “to do what’s right for DREAMers, farmworkers, and other long-term undocumented members of our communities.”
They are not a threat to America.
Their track record proves that.
They are part of America.
This column is the opinion of editor, Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinions of The Bulletin or 209 Multimedia. He can be reached at dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
