Senate Democrats declared on Jan. 25 that the next spending bill will include nothing for the 800,000 recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA), whose protected status is set to expire in early March.
On Jan. 22, Senate Democrats caved to Trump, providing three more weeks of government funding without any resolution for the Dreamers. They exchanged their flimsy promise to the immigrant community for an even flimsier one: a mere statement of “intention” from the Republican leadership to debate, not even pass, immigration reform in February. Some hoped that the Senate Democrats might still refuse funding if nothing was settled for the Dreamers by February 8. Withholding funds remains Senate Democrats’ main piece of leverage.
Then Senate Democrats eliminated any such hopes. “We’re viewing [immigration and spending] on separate terms because they are on separate paths,” Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said Tuesday. (Politico)
The Democrats in the Senate are basically declaring: first we will hand them the money they need, then we will give away own leverage, and now, we hope, they will let us debate the issue of immigration. This is not a “deal” at all. It merely consolidates and reinforces the recent betrayal of the shutdown — and it all but ensures that any bipartisan “compromise” they negotiate now will be worse for the country’s undocumented immigrants and future immigrants.
This whirlwind of legislative maneuvers and backtracking has revealed with complete clarity the hollowness of the Congressional Democrats’ “resistance.” They have backed out of any real fight for DACA, the undocumented community and the working class.
The details of the budget lay bare the real character of the Democratic Party. The Senate is in fact agreeing to $150 billion in additional spending for the military in 2018 and 2019, an amount beyond even what Trump had even asked for! The Democratic Party is more interested in fueling and maintaining the U.S. war machine than it is in protecting immigrants in this country.
On Jan. 24, Trump tweeted that he was open to a 10- or 12-year pathway to citizenship for Dreamers while also pushing for $25 billion dollars to build the Wall and $5 billion dollars for “additional security along the border.” Trump and the racist Republican leadership want to leave 90 percent of undocumented, those who do not qualify as Dreamers, in the same vulnerable position. They want to prevent Dreamers from sponsoring their parents. They also want to permanently reduce immigration from developing countries. Sen. Durbin responded positively to Trump’s tweets, showing that the Democrats cannot be trusted to actually fight these racist and unjust provisions. In fact, Trump’s new position is not far from what the Democrats had offered him to prevent a government shutdown in the first place.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is now trying to appear pro-immigrant again, saying that the Wall is “off of the table,” just days after he declared on the Senate floor that he had put it on the table to pass a deal with Trump. But Trump was the one who rejected that offer; there’s no heroism in taking something off the table once the negotiations are over! The truth is that Schumer may put it right back on the table and comply with Trump once the next round of negotiations begins.
We must recall that Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D.-Ill.) even offered to help build the wall himself — “I’ll take a bucket, take bricks, and start building it myself,” he said. “We will dirty our hands in order for the Dreamers to have a clean future in America.”
Media coverage of this situation is confusing and generally portrays the House Democrats as steadfast fighters for immigrant rights, as opposed to their Senate colleagues. The Democratic Party has shown itself time and time again to be a party of untrustworthy politicians who, when pushed, truly only support one thing: the expansion of U.S. imperialism. The spirit of bipartisanship always flourishes then, and always at the expense of international working class.
The only way that we can fight for Dreamers and all 11 million undocumented people in the United States is to be in the streets, to challenge the relationship of forces, and reveal the power of the working class. The Democratic Party will sell out any grassroots movement for the appearance of a “win” or for their next election. We must fight for ourselves and our futures.
