GOP's immigration 'reform' likely to target 'dreamers'
Next week, House Republicans will use a must-pass Homeland Security appropriations bill to attempt to undo the executive order on immigration that President Obama issued in November. But things being what they are, they won't stop there.
Instead, the bill is also likely to challenge an earlier Obama executive order regarding those who were brought here illegally as young children. It would strip those so-called "dreamers" -- many of whom think of themselves as American and know no home but this one -- of any legal protection against being deported.
Poll after poll has shown strong public support for finding some way to extend legal status to those here illegally. In a Fox News poll a year ago, for example, 68 percent of Americans said they want to create a pathway to citizenship, while just 15 percent wanted to try to solve the problem through mass deportation.
When the topic is the dreamers, public opinion is even more heavily tilted. Back in 2012, when Obama first announced his executive order, National Journal did a poll asking Americans what approach they preferred:
Just 14 percent of Republicans -- yes, Republicans -- said they support the approach that their party leaders will attempt to force into law next week. Seventy-nine percent of Republicans supported some means of allowing them to stay legally.
Yet that's the ground on which the GOP will apparently choose to fight. It's just crazy.
