Editor’s Note: Cesar Vargas has recently posted in HuffPost an indictment of the Democratic Party’s recent deal with the GOP to keep the government in operation. Vargas argues that this amounted to a betrayal of the Dreamers, i.e., “undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children. However, our columnist William Albee strongly disagrees:

I cannot agree with this opinion writer. Yes, the Democrats chose not to shut down the Government over DACA this round, because they got a budget deal more favorable to Democrats than Republicans – a deal that serves the best interests of everyone. They took that deal while it was there knowing they lose some leverage on DACA, but chances are, they would have ended up with nothing if they had shut down the Government over DACA on this round of budget negotiations.

Republicans know the majority of voters support DACA, which is the real reason McConnell has agree to allow normal process on a stand alone immigration bill. Ryan indicates he will allow normal process in the House too. Will Trump sabotage any deal Congress comes up with? Only time will tell, but Republicans know it will be an election day disaster if they don’t stop Trump from deporting Dreamers starting in March. Schumer used his leverage to get a budget deal for everyone and will use effectively the little leverage he has to get DACA fixed. He did not sell out, but rather lived to fight on this issue on another day.

 

 

Photo credit: by Pax Ahimsa Gethen (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

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