Editorial: Common sense DACA renewal deserves N.C. delegation's support

Friday, Jan. 19, 2018 -- It is past time that North Carolina's congressional delegation ignore the divisiveness emanating from the White House and join with other Republicans and Democrats to renew DACA, avoid shutting the federal government down so it continues to serve the people who put them in office.

Posted 10:00 a.m. Jan 19, 2018 — Updated 10:00 a.m. Jan 19, 2018

CBC Editorial: Friday, Jan. 19, 2018; Editorial # 8260

The following is the opinion of Capitol Broadcasting Company

The United States is a nation of immigrants. Its strength is in that diversity.

These are neither passé clichés nor empty platitudes. Look no further than “Land of Opportunity,” the WRAL-TV documentary broadcast Thursday evening, that examined the significant contributions recent immigrants are making to North Carolina’s economy.

The facts driven home in the documentary make the intransigence and inaction in Washington both frustrating and irresponsible – particularly on renewal of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

While many immigration issues are challenging to resolve there’s one that’s a no-brainer and around which there is significant consensus.

There no rational reason not to both extend and provide a path to citizenship for those who came to this nation as children, not of their own doing. Most consider this nation as their own – they’ve never known anything else. They attend U.S. schools and colleges and many hold jobs and are embarking on careers in their communities.

Cold-hearted sentiments, reflected recently by North Carolina U.S. Rep. George Holding, are unrealistic and amount to holding these kids hostage to prevailing partisan winds and political pandering to a hyper-ideological fringe.

Making a child responsible for the actions of their parents is, frankly, dumbfounding. “Breaking the law has consequences and that will flow down to your children,” Holding said. Really?

Are Holding and his like-minded colleagues willing to shut down the government over a matter that most Americans disagree with him on? Even members of President Donald Trump’s evangelical advisory council want to save DACA.

"We can't continue to play politics with 800,000 human beings created in the image of God. It is morally reprehensible," said the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez – who prayed at Trump’s inauguration. It was a rare public show Thursday of bipartisan support for the DACA program.

This is no small issue. North Carolina ranks seventh in the number of immigrants in the DACA program. There are more than 42,000 North Carolina residents eligible for DACA deferrals according to the Migration Policy Institute, a Washington think tank.

Do we ship 42,000 kids out of North Carolina? Do we want to separate these kids from their parents?

Shutting down the federal government, which seems to be the latest direction, rather than offering appropriate and reasonable extension of the DACA program is irresponsible and wrong.

Practical, reasoned approaches are available. South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham has admirably been in the forefront of these efforts.

It is past time that North Carolina’s congressional delegation, particularly Senators Richard Burr and Thom Tills, ignore the divisiveness emanating from the White House and join with the likes of Graham, other Republicans and Democrats to renew DACA and keep the government serving the people who put them in office.

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