DREAM Act Portal Forum - Details For GOP DACA Billl

https://twitter.com/david_j_bier/sta...68686968283138
The House GOP demands in exchange for DACA an endless list of extreme demands but the worst part is that their bill isn’t even a real solution for Dreamers. Its provisions show the GOP isn't willing to accept them as Americans, at most just criminals on parole. Here’s why:

It offers DACA recipients a “nonimmigrant” status. Unlike “immigrants,” nonimmigrants are admitted for a temporary period for a specific purpose and without any pathway to citizenship. Right off the bat, we know House GOP isn’t thinking of Dreamers as a permanent part of America.

The bill protects the smallest possible group of Dreamers—only those who are currently in DACA at the time of enactment may even apply under the higher evidentiary standard. DACA was an act of prosecutorial discretion for a narrow subset of Dreamers who needed work authorization
It excludes Dreamers who have already lost DACA, were too young to apply for DACA (under 15), & everyone who was over the age of 31 in June 2012 but who entered as a child, and it excludes all who entered after 2007. Moderate Senate & House Rs’ bills require just 6 year residence
It also specifically singles out for exclusions all aliens who are in any kind of lawful status, even if they meet all other requirements—no applications from TPS recipients or children of H-1Bs or E-2s who can apply under other bills. Why discriminate against *legal* immigrants?

The age cap & residency requirement by themselves leave out nearly two thirds of all Dreamers eligible under other proposals, including plans by moderate Republicans. But that’s not good enough for the SAF Act: it adds many other requirements further cutting down the final third
First, it requires “clear and convincing evidence” to obtain this status. This standard of proof is 2nd only to the beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard in criminal trials—higher than the “preponderance of the evidence” standard to get million dollar judgments in civil cases

…and much, much higher than current standard for all other immigrants. This will make it as easy as possible for the administration to deny applicants getting status to begin with. This contrasts with the Dream Act, which simply specifies the type of evidence required
Then, it excludes DACA recipients who have prior removals, failed to show for removal proceedings, or have removal orders. Why do the authors want to remove such people? The whole point is to keep Dreamers here, not follow through on past deportation threats

Under this provision, DACA recipients would be ineligible if they ever claimed to be citizens at any time in their life to obtain any immigration benefit, even if they did so unknowingly as a minor. The only waiver possible for this is if both parents are, in fact, citizens

DACA allowed veterans to apply even if they aren’t in school and didn’t graduate high school. This bill requires high school graduation or full-time school enrollment, meaning that DACA veterans can’t even meet the requirement by part time enrollment.

The bill also requires all recipients to maintain an income 125% of poverty line. Any Dreamers just starting out in the job market or with incomes below that can’t apply. DACA recipients who care for children or elderly parents can’t apply. Disabled DACA recipients can’t apply

This income requirement continues *forever* no matter what. It demonstrates that the House GOP considers DACA recipients nothing more than the workers, not Americans or people independent of the value of the labor—and only if they maintain a certain level of productivity.
This status would not come with the automatic right to travel outside the country either. Dreamers would have to pay even more fees to apply to DHS. And they couldn’t leave for more than 2 weeks at a time. No long vacations, study abroad, extended family emergencies.

The bill requires Dreamers to repay to the US government any refunds that they receive from tax credits. I have never seen any provision like this in any bill.

On top of the normal processing fee, the GOP would require DACA recipients to pay $1,000 FINE in order to pay for Trump’s border wall. Under the bill, they only have 1 year to make this sum. Many DACA recipients will not be able to afford this amount, excluding even more

Its new procedures—eg in-person interview—will inevitably raise the cost of the regular fee as well. It will probably end up costing closer to $1,225 for a green card than the $485 for DACA. Then toss on another $1,000 fine, and the GOP bill likely raises the cost of DACA 560%

But a green card recipient doesn’t need to reapply for adjustment of status ever again. Under this bill, DACA recipients would still have to reapply every three years for extensions, proving their eligibility over and over and spending thousands for the rest of the lives.

It’s true that the bill doesn’t *ban* them from applying green cards under family or employer categories in theory but it does everything else it can to stop them from getting them in practice.
For example, if a Dreamer crossed the border, they can’t adjust to permanent residency even if they are eligible unless they leave & reenter lawfully. This provision states that if Dreamers do receive permission to leave, it won’t allow them to adjust after returning anyway

Even if Dreamers did enter legally & overstay, the main way Dreamers could obtain permanent residency—other than marrying a citizen—would be to have a child and wait til they’re 21 when they can sponsor them for a green card. But the bill ends this category completely!

The only other option would be to have an employer sponsor them for a green card. But under the law, no nationality can get more than 7% of the employment green cards. Under this bill, the likely max would be 8,000/year. So for Mexican Dreamers, that’d be 50 years of waiting.
Throughout the time that they are waiting in line, Dreamers would have no right to leave their employer who sponsored them or quit their job. This is what #H1Bs already go through, and it’s awful. This bill could just add hundreds of thousands of more to this problem
On top of all of this, the bill creates a new federal misdemeanor offense for violating any “terms or conditions” of admission for more than 90 days. For Dreamers, this includes being enrolled in school, an income of 125% of the poverty line, no more than two weeks vacation…

Of course, the bill also criminalizes *anyone* unlawfully present for 90 days or more, turning all parents and family of Dreamers into criminals overnight. It’s very difficult to imagine that any Dreamer would trade their own legal status for their parents being in jail

Lastly, DHS has a YEAR to implement under GOP bill. Even if Congress passes this bill today, more than half of all current DACA recipients will have lost their work permits and their employers will have been forced to fire them. This fact destroys the lie that reform isn’t urgent

In summary, I would guess that no more than 10% of Dreamers would even be eligible for status under the GOP DACA bill. Probably half of all DACA recipients would be unable to apply
The status offered is worse than “second class”—it’s closer to being a criminal on parole, complete with fines, reporting, and constant background checks. This bill is not a real fix for Dreamers. Anyone who claims otherwise simply hasn’t read it or thinks the fix is deportation
All of these provisions show that unlike most Americans, House GOP refuses to think of Dreamers as what they are: Americans. Every provision is designed to deport as many as possible. Even as a standalone bill, this DACA “fix” wouldn’t have the slightest chance
If Dreamers become poor, take too long vacation, or leave school for 90 days for any reason, they would not only be deported—they would be criminals. First offense, up to 6 months in federal prison. A second offense, up to 2 years. THIS is the status the GOP is offering Dreamers
Note that the requirement to have a work permit means that the GOP would deport all of the Dreamers who were never old enough to apply for one, meaning that they'd deport *actual children*