DreamActTron
 

http://www.newsweek.com/paul-ryan-ca...-deport-744856

House Speaker Paul Ryan can no longer dodge the so-called Dreamers he might soon help President Donald Trump deport. Starting Tuesday, immigrant advocacy group United We Dream will erect a jumbotron facing the Capitol building to remind Ryan and other Republican lawmakers of the young people they could deport if protections for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients are left out of a year-end spending bill.

“Anytime Paul Ryan looks out the window, he’ll see the faces of immigrant youth who would be deported unless Congress passes the Dream Act this year,” United We Dream said Monday.

Video and pictures telling the stories of hundreds of DACA recipients will be displayed 24-hours a day on a 22-foot by 13-foot screen dubbed the “DreamActTron.” The jumbotron, on 3rd Street between Madison and Jefferson drives, will stay on for the next two weeks until a temporary spending bill passed last week to avert a government shutdown expires, said Bruna Bouhid, the organization’s communications director.


Bouhid hopes the message will reach Ryan, she said. “We sent him an invitation hoping that he can come and meet the people affected by the rescission of DACA face-to-face so we can have a conversation about getting us permanent protection by the end of the year,” said Bouhid, a DACA recipient herself.

Immigration advocates claim if legislation needed to avoid a government shutdown doesn't include a DACA provision, there will be no incentive for the Republican majority to ever pass a stand-alone solution for the nearly 1 million DACA recipients who could face deportation when the program ends in March.

“Congress has two weeks to pass the Dream Act,” said Kamal Essaheb, director of policy and advocacy at the National Immigration Law Center’s Immigrant Justice Fund. “It’s time for both parties to work together to hammer out a solution to end the uncertainty currently plaguing hundreds of thousands of Dreamers. Otherwise, this will be the last Christmas for many families.”

The DREAM Act immigrant advocates are pushing for bipartisan legislation that would create a pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients, commonly referred to as Dreamers.


The DACA program was enacted by President Barack Obama in 2012. It gives adults brought illegally to the U.S. as children protection from deportation as long as recipients go to school, work and avoid criminal activities. President Donald Trump in September announced the wind-down of the DACA program, directing the Department of Homeland Security to stop processing new and renewal applications. The president then asked Congress to act to save it, but DACA recipients could begin to lose their status in March.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell last week dismissed the notion that a fight over DACA could lead to a government shutdown as “ridiculous,” but dozens of Republicans are setting the stage for a showdown.

Thirty-four House Republicans last week called on Congress to pass a permanent DACA fix by year’s end.

“We are compelled to act immediately because many DACA recipients are about to lose or have already lost their permits in the wake of the program’s rescission. Not acting is creating understandable uncertainty and anxiety amongst immigrant communities,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to Ryan.

Re: DreamActTron
 

You know what as much as I see A lot of hate towards UWD they’re actually going out there and pushing this issue more than anything I salute them .

Re: DreamActTron
 

They can do that because they receive all these donations, which is what many of the smaller groups do not have: money.

Their pressure is awesome, but their central message is idealistic and dangerously detrimental to the bargaining process.

Re: DreamActTron
 

I think what they are doing is being as unrealistic as republicans are which will help the cause meet half way ... and not fuck us over with some small legislation .

Re: DreamActTron
 

Yeah, that and mostly they fearmonger and attack the people who aren't pushing for a clean bill.

I mean . . . I admire this activism, but the message is all fucked up. Everyone by now should know that the Dems will be giving some concessions on border security, so there will be no "clean" legalization deal.

Kudos on this idea though.

Re: DreamActTron
 

Barganing process is starting high and working down. If you start with some 20 years for citizenship with republican anti-immigrant measures then you'd end up with Bridge+Raise+Cornyn's Bill.

Regardless of if they're true believers that think that clean DA can happen, or not, starting weak will get you nothing worthwhile. Not giving in to republicans and demanding a clean bill is actually a good strategy for now. Why you may ask?

Government shutdown is close to coming, republicans manage to get some democrats to agree for a CR for two weeks, the matter is now less pressing but still urgent. Now come all the bills getting spammed in (SECURE Act, Flake's Bill, etc). Out of all of them Flake's bill is probably the best so the natural reaction is to go ahead and say "That one", well now this is your negotiating ceiling and it can only go down from here without flipping the table and letting the government shut down.

Re: DreamActTron
 

Good job UWD!

Re: DreamActTron
 

Dude,

You knew from the start you were not going to get a clean process. So, one can argue that you contributed to the gridlock when the issue could have been solved earlier.

If this clean bill stuff is a strategy, then when is it that you plan to meet at the middle? Even with a government shutdown, the GOP will still get border security concessions.

Something tells me that "this was a negotiation strategy all along" was an attempt to brainwash people to align and shutup because you still do not explain when negotiating should start happening. If you think that a clean bill push should happen until the last minute on the 22nd, then you are only harming yourself. Negotiations take time.

The way these orgs approached this was crap, and Vote4dream's presence and push for a compromise in D.C. is testimony to that--if not we'd ALLLLLLL be agreeing with you.

Look at the vids and images on Vote4dream's facebook page. Compare that to UWD. Vote4dream has been able to meet and talk with at least 230 or so legislators while a lot of the UWD protestors are being ignored.

Re: DreamActTron
 

Re: DreamActTron
 

This is just UWD trying to say they tried.

Re: DreamActTron
 

Now you're just being stupid on purpose.

Re: DreamActTron
 

You should know that feeling because you still defend a strategy that really did not help with or get you anything. If we did not have legislators ignoring UWD and centrist dreamer groups pressuring for compromise right now, negotiations would be at an impasse.

At no point did the legislators doing the main negotiating now push for a clean bill. Pushing for a clean bill was a strategy an outside pro-immigrant pushed for. But, it was ignored in the legislative bargaining process; be honest with yourself. So, you can't sit there and lecture me on this negotiating strategy working because it was not implemented by Durbin, Graham, or Flake at any point. No even Pelosi.