Miscellaneous
History of DACA On June 4, 2019, the House of Representatives passed the DREAM Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act), originally proposed in 2001 by a Republican Senator Orrin Hatch and a Democratic senator Dick Durbin. The bill was introduced and re-introduced several times but was not never passed by Congress nor signed into law. This lead to the release of an executive order by Obama Administration exercising discretion over Deferred Adjunction or DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. Meaning), the government was not obligated to deport people just because they could. Deferred Action defers the action of deporting people who came into the U.S., usually without visas, as children. Many of whom came from Mexico or the southern border illegally. To qualify for Deferred Action, the individual must have arrived before the age of 17 and filed before the age of 31. DACA recipients cannot have committed a crime and must have graduated high school, have their GED or enlisted in the military. Currently, DACA is being used as a political football for either party. During Trump’s campaign for president, he said that he would not overturn DACA. Then it was used as a bargaining chip in an effort to fund the southern border wall. John Lennon’s Deportation Proceedings John Lennon entered into the United States in 1971 on a B1/B2 Visitor Visa. In 1972, Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) initiated deportation proceeding for John Lennon. According to INS, Lennon’s 1968 conviction for marijuana possession in London rendered him ineligible for admission into the U.S. The real reason behind these deportation proceedings was Lennon’s involvement in the anti-war movement. Lennon was a British Citizen who had become one of the most vocal critics of the United States' involvement in Vietnam. The Nixon administration believed Lennon’s anti-war activism that reached 18-21-year-olds would cost Nixon his reelection. This was the first presidential election in which 18-year-olds could vote making 18 to 21-year-olds a vital demographic. In a 1972 memo, Republican Senator Strom Thurmond suggested deportation proceedings as “a strategic counter-measure” against Lennon (1). Thurmond advised act icing Attorney General John Mitchell, who was also chairman of Nixon’s 1968 presidential campaign, that removing Lennon would be the appropriate political action. Leon Wildes and The Deportation Battle In 1972, John Lennon hired an attorney named Leon Wildes, who has become an immigration legend because of this case. On March 23, 1973, John Lennon was ordered to leave the U.S. within 60 days (2). Leon Wildes’ strategy for John Lennon’s case was to compile 1,800 instances where an individual could have been deported but was not. Lennon battled the deportation proceedings until October 8, 1975, when the deportation attempt was barred. In what would become the foundation for DACA, a Court of Appeals stated “the courts will not condone selective deportation based upon secret political grounds”(3). Leon Wildes’ strategy had worked, he successfully demonstrated that just because the government could deport someone did not mean there was an obligation to deport the individual. In 1976, Lennon became a permanent resident. Lennon, Obama and the Legal Basis of DACA The Obama Administration’s basis for creating a policy that Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals was rooted in the Court of Appeals’ finding for Lennon’s case. Obama applied the Courts ruling to productive members of society who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children. The President of the United States, USCIS, Homeland Security and all immigration-related agencies do not have to deport someone if they do not believe that they should. The Future of DACA The purpose of DACA was to create policy around Deferred Adjunction for people who had no choice in coming to America illegally. These are people who were brought here and many have never lived any place else. DACA recipients are working non-criminal members of society, but immigration has become politically divisive. The bill that the House passed (DREAM Act) would grant DACA recipients with Conditional Permanent Resident Status for up to 10 years. This would help increase their economic productivity since they would not have to worry about being deported. That would save the U.S. lots of money built into the cost of deporting people. Frankly, we could spend those dollars elsewhere. However, it is a political year and immigration is very much at the center of the political divide. Immigration is splitting along partisan lines even though it really should not be. America needs a shift in dialogue, from fear of an insurgency across southern borders to the benefits the United States reaps from immigration i.e. global economic leader. Wiener, Jon (1990). Come Together: John Lennon in His Time. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-06131-8. Wiener, Jon (1999). Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI Files. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-22246-5. Coleman, Ray (1992). Lennon: The Definitive Biography. Harper. ISBN 978-0-06-098608-7. Find the full article and more.