Fulfilling a campaign promise, 71-year-old President Donald Trump roiled Democrats and Republicans alike, promising to end former President Barack Obama’s June 1, 2012 executive order AKA Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals [DACA]. DACA permitted some 1 million children of illegal immigrants to have legal status in the United States, with over half of the nearly 845,000 applicants living in California and Texas. Planning to end DACA in six months pending any Congressional action, Trump makes good on his campaign promise to crack down on illegals. Trump contends, despite allegedly using undocumented workers in his own businesses, the influx of illegal workers have robbed jobs and driven down wages for American workers. When you weigh out the benefit to American business of illegal workers, keeping DACA only makes sense.
Trump’s not naïve how illegal arrivals in the U.S. work hard in a spectrum of U.S. jobs, especially in farm labor, hospitality and construction. Countless other businesses make use of undocumented workers, even when they present appropriate fake documentation to employers. Institute on Taxation and Economic policy estimates March 1, 2016 that some 12 billion dollars are collected by local, state and federal governments. That includes whopping sums of cash paid from mandatory payroll deductions to Social Security and Medicare. Reducing the some 11-15 million illegal aliens would decimate Medicare and Social Security, now dependent on revenue collected, but never paid in benefits, on illegal immigrants. Trump’s decision to end DACA, whether or not technically correct, shoots the U.S. Treasury in the foot, robbing government coffers of future earnings.
Every American living and doing business in the U.S. knows the contributions from illegal immigrants, working feverishly in residential and commercial construction trades. Trump’s decision to end DACA should prompt House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who has his eyes one day on the White House, to fashion bipartisan legislation to save DACA, but, more importantly, recognize that undocumented workers contribute to U.S. Gross Domestic Product. With a six-month delay to ending DACA, Trump knows that Congress could undermine his attempt, giving a nod-and-wink to Congress to save the program. Ryan should have plenty of time to rescue DACA, making Trump look like the bad guy but only to his detractors, not his base. Whatever happens, children of illegal aliens, AKA “Dreamers,” won’t go anywhere, since anyone from June 1, 2012 will get to stay in the U.S.
Members of Congress that support DACA typically do so on humanitarian grounds, that anyone 16 or younger should not be blamed for their parents’ decision to enter the U.S. illegally. Trump contends that DACA was unconstitutional since it skirted U.S. Immigration, Customs and Enforcement [ICE], granting exceptions to children of undocumented arrivals. Without DACA protections, the so-called Dreamers would be vulnerable to deportation, even without committing crimes. Trump promised he’d have “heart” for the “Dreamers” but his current decision sets a deadline on legal protections for children of illegal immigrants. Whatever the damage to business to enforcing ICE federal laws, the damage to public school systems—and the teaching profession—would be catastrophic. An estimated 13% of Los Angeles Unified School District pupils are illegal immigrants.
Enforcing federal immigration laws come with serious consequences to school districts but, more importantly, to local, state and federal government coffers. Stemming the flow of undocumented workers would have catastrophic consequences on the estimated 12 billion already collected in local, state and federal taxes. With DACA alone, the government could lose payroll taxes on 700,000 workers. Knowing business better than most on Capitol Hill, Trump should tell his Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin to calculate the loss to the U.S. Treasury of ending the DACA program. There’s simply too much at stake for the U.S. economy to start messing with the U.S. workforce, currently comprised of some 11 million illegal aliens. Deporting so-called “Dreamers” currently protected under DACA would have bigger repercussions on the U.S. economy than ever imagined.
Trump’s decision to go end Obama’s DACA program has more symbolic value than anything practical. When you consider the economic consequences to an ICE crack-down or ending DACA, Trump’s shooting the economy in the foot. Whether admitted or not, undocumented workers have become an essential part of the U.S. economy, much like trade with China. Trump can talk tough with China all he wants but too many U.S. businesses are wholly dependent on cheap Chinese manufacturing. Applying the same principle to illegal aliens, Trump knows that a wide variety of U.S. business—including his own—require inexpensive labor offered by undocumented workers. Supporting or opposing DACA should be based on the economic consequences not on delivering campaign promises. Elected officials need to look at the bottom line not federal immigration laws.
