DACA’s Dubious Deadline

In a city that manufactures crises by the hour, Washington is counting down the days to the March 5 DACA “deadline.”

Ditching their government shutdown gambit, the open-borders crowd on Capitol Hill reset the alarm clock to coincide with President Donald Trump’s order for dealing with the controversial program formally called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

In fact, the immigration enthusiasts want to go far beyond the 800,000 DACA recipients to include amnesty for some 3.6 million illegal aliens known as DREAMers. Such bait-and-switch tactics are also the stock and trade of Capitol Hill.

But back to the supposed deadline. This month, in a little-noted ruling, U.S. District Judge William Alsup, effectively blocked the Trump administration from ending DACA on March 5.

Even if the liberal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court were to lift Judge Alsup’s injunction any wind-down of DACA would likely take an additional six months (based on a rescission memorandum issued by the Department of Homeland Security). By then, it’s September, or later.

Meantime, Trump’s Department of Justice has taken steps that give the administration leeway to continue DACA renewals.

If Washington is notorious for brinksmanship, it’s also infamous for kicking cans down a road full of legal speed bumps.

The media and “progressive” politicians are slamming the panic button on DACA for all the usual pecuniary and political reasons. Playing to emotions, rather than logic, DACA apologists seek to short-circuit the legislative process – as President Obama did in creating the program — and ram through yet another wholesale amnesty.

If Congress cannot resolve the DACA issue reasonably, the job ultimately reverts to the White House. What one president gives by an unconstitutional executive order, another can take away. Mr. Obama said so himself.