Hard facts re DACA and the Dems

Sure, Democratic politicians are seldom "profiles in courage." And people are getting hurt everyday. But let's get real as we blunder toward phase-the-umpteenth of the struggle over whether this should be a nation that welcomes immigrants.

... it’s worth pointing out the obvious: Republicans are the people who have put the hundreds of thousands of DREAMers at risk.

It was mostly Republicans who killed comprehensive immigration reform in 2007; it was overwhelmingly Republicans who killed the DREAM Act in 2010; it was even more overwhelmingly Republicans who killed comprehensive immigration reform in 2013. It was a Republican president who canceled DACA in 2017, and it is exclusively Republicans who are blocking a wise and humane legislative replacement for DACA in 2018.

The real reason Schumer and Senate Democrats are struggling to secure help for DREAMers is that there are only 49 of them in a 100-person body (and you need 60 to pass legislation), their colleagues in the House are even more disempowered than they are, and the executive branch is controlled by people who are fundamentally hostile to the cause.

... a Senate minority can’t force the party that controls the House and the White House and the majority in the Senate to enact legislation they don’t want to enact. I’m not entirely sure why, exactly, Republicans leaders are so eager to ruin DREAMers’ lives but they do seem to be pretty determined. And that’s the core issue, not any question of legislative tactics.

... The reason the DREAM Act failed in 2010 is that Republicans killed it. The reason comprehensive immigration reform failed in 2013 is that Republicans killed it. The reason DACA ended in 2017 is that Republicans killed it. And the reason that the bipartisan Durbin-Graham plan to help DREAMers hasn’t been enacted in 2018 is that Republicans are blocking it.

Not that it isn't worth beating up on Dems to get them on the right side of this. California proves this: does anyone think Diane Feinstein would be holding out for a DACA fix if her constituents were not howling at her state offices? Of course not. But we did, and she is. Her incentives are somewhat unique (June primary) but you use what you have.

So let's keep beating on elected Dems -- but let's remember the real problem is elected Republicans from Trump on down and make sure we defeat them in November and beyond.