DACA Failure on Congress: The Time For Action Is Now

image
Published: 05 Sep, 2017
2 min read

There is a simple concept in American contract law known as "detrimental reliance" which DACA participants should take comfort in.

Why? Because, this principle is so embedded in American jurisprudence that it is difficult to imagine any court -- conservative or liberal -- allowing for the deportation of any lawful DACA participant.

Sure, there will be technical legal contentions that the police power of government is not subject to this sort of contractual obligation and the Obama era documentation may have even required or implied a waiver of any such claims.

But, the DACA participants voluntarily presented themselves to authorities, entered into a program with a reasonable expectation that this information would not be used against them.

The legal and moral arguments against deportation for this group of people are simply too overwhelming for a court to ignore.

Having said this, it is probably true that DACA by way of executive Order was illegal. President Obama may very well have believed it to be so when he signed the DACA executive order. The failure, then and now, belongs to Congress.

The political support for DACA is overwhelming. If Congress can't pass a statutorily sound DACA with the winds of law, politics, and morality all at their backs, it is hard to imagine Congress being able to do anything. Literally, anything.

Of course, Congress doing nothing is why we are here in the first place.

DACA is easy. Congress should do it in six days, not six months.

IVP Donate

Comprehensive immigration reform is more difficult, but imperative. We have lived with the consequences of policy by omission and evasion for decades. The victims are immigrants themselves and an economy distorted by dependency on illegal acts and a growing, untaxed, underground economy.

DACA participants will never be deported. The question is whether both Republicans and Democrats will continue to play chicken with their lives and the American economy.

You Might Also Like

Ballrooms, Ballots, and a Three-Way Fight for New York
Ballrooms, Ballots, and a Three-Way Fight for New York
The latest Independent Voter Podcast episode takes listeners through the messy intersections of politics, reform, and public perception. Chad and Cara open with the irony of partisan outrage over trivial issues like a White House ballroom while overlooking the deeper dysfunctions in our democracy. From California to Maine, they unpack how the very words on a ballot can tilt entire elections and how both major parties manipulate language and process to maintain power....
30 Oct, 2025
-
1 min read
California Prop 50 gets an F
Princeton Gerrymandering Project Gives California Prop 50 an 'F'
The special election for California Prop 50 wraps up November 4 and recent polling shows the odds strongly favor its passage. The measure suspends the state’s independent congressional map for a legislative gerrymander that Princeton grades as one of the worst in the nation....
30 Oct, 2025
-
3 min read
bucking party on gerrymandering
5 Politicians Bucking Their Party on Gerrymandering
Across the country, both parties are weighing whether to redraw congressional maps ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Texas, California, Missouri, North Carolina, Utah, Indiana, Colorado, Illinois, and Virginia are all in various stages of the action. Here are five politicians who have declined to support redistricting efforts promoted by their own parties....
31 Oct, 2025
-
4 min read