Dreamers, Justice, and Jesus

By Dana Hall McCain - Posted at the Dothan Eagle:

Right now approximately 800,000 people wait with bated breath to see if they will be able to remain and legally work in the United States—the only home many of them have ever known. They are participants in the Obama-era program known as DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), created by executive order to address the legal limbo that children of undocumented immigrants live in.

People like Lisbeth Ortiz, 32, who joined her parents in the United States after the death of the grandmother who’d been caring for her back in Mexico while her parents looked for work here. At age 13, she arrived in the Trussville area speaking no English, but learned fast and worked hard enough to graduate from high school with a 3.8 GPA. College wasn’t an option then because of her legal status. But after she was approved for DACA, she was able to pursue meaningful work as a translator in the Hispanic ministry of the Church at Brook Hills, and later at Pinson Elementary School, where she still works and sends her own children to school. She and her husband stand to lose it all in a few weeks if Congress doesn’t pass legislation to address her situation by March 5.

This legal debacle highlights the problem inherent with governing by executive order. What is done without the consent of Congress can be just as unceremoniously undone, creating massive consequences for those who are affected. Presidents who try to play hero with a pen are just kicking the can down the street.

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