Opinion: DACA removal should be final straw for Hispanic community
Sep 8, 2017, 1:03 PM
April Soasti, 9, front, and her sister Adriana, 7, stand with other community members after the president announced the plan to repeal of the Deferred Action in Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program on Tuesday. Protestors took to Park Square in Pittsfield, Mass., Thursday, Sept. 7, 2017 to speak out in support of keeping the program. (Stephanie Zollshan/The Berkshire Eagle via AP)
(Stephanie Zollshan/The Berkshire Eagle via AP)
I would like to address the Hispanic community directly in this blog and I hope it can be used as a template for other minority groups as well.
I hope you are insulted that President Donald Trump removed the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
I hope this is the final straw. I hope you are fed up with being used as a political football.
Let’s back up to 2012, when then-President Barack Obama received word that he was losing ground in the Hispanic community after La Raza labeled him the deporter-in-chief.
Facing re-election, Obama needed to do something to get back in the good graces of the Hispanic community, which traditionally voted with Democrats.
Enter DACA, which was a huge win as Obama reinvigorated his Hispanic base.
Now, Trump has grabbed the DACA football and punted it to the do-nothing Congress to appease his voter base and make good on a campaign promise.
The Democrats went right to their old playbook and held a press conference to scream and holler about tearing up families and hard-working kids being sent back to Mexico.
Here’s where you should be fed up. Here’s where you should be angry and insulted: Nothing will happen. History has shown that.
Here’s a dirty little secret of Washington, D.C.: There is no win in a solution for an issue this big.
The reason why there has been no solution on immigration is because both sides need that topic to fill their coffers and rally their voter base.
In our latest example — DACA — the Democrats are telling their base to donate to our campaigns, keep us in office and we will save families from being broken up and shipped back to lands that they don’t know.
The Republicans are saying if democratic immigration reform happens, there will be no borders, immigrants will come flooding into our country and take all of our jobs. Donate to my campaign, keep me in the office, and I will defend the border.
If true immigration reform took place and we fixed the problem, they wouldn’t have the money-making power of fear.
Let’s be honest with ourselves: Politicians have one goal and one goal only — re-election.
Why would they give up such a base-energizing topic like this? Exactly.
It’s time to say enough is enough. It’s time to stand up as an entire community and say that you are tired of being used as your political football.
It is a sick and twisted game that they are playing with human lives.
Please understand that the Hispanic community has overwhelmingly voted Democrat for decades. Have they fixed immigration, even when they had control of the House and Senate and White House? No.
Why? Because they aren’t done using you and they won’t stop until you stop them.
It’s time to stop protesting and start voting. Get all of these career slappies out of office and do what you can to put someone in office that actually wants to get something done for your community and not for themselves.
