6 Months to build the DACA underground railroad

In the cascading chaos which is the Trump administration, political organizers need to watch for their opportunities.  I think the president’s callous repeal of DACA is a brilliant opportunity.   DACA’s unraveling will lead to 800,000 young people facing deportation and in many cases, to countries they have never lived in.  To avoid the likely nightmarish political fall out, Trump has given Congress 6 months to find a legislative fix, but immigration legislation is notoriously tricky for Congress.  Next spring will be a highly visible time for discussions on immigration for House Republicans facing primaries and re-election bids come November.  It is unlikely a sharply divided Congress can find a solution.  In the US in 2017, immigration might be even harder than health care to get legislation through the Senate.

It is time to build a new underground railway for these dreamers.  One part of this could be a social network site, similar to a dating site, where DACA immigrants could find hosts who were willing to house them in new locations.  It would need stronger encryption and security than a conventional social network because the government would be trying to hack it.    And it should be augmented by volunteers who are looking at enhancing host offers.  For example, you might have a room for a Dreamer in your house, but you might not know how to help the Dreamer in your town.  Another volunteer would scope out your town seeing if the transplanted DACA person could find work, social, and educational opportunities in your town and link them up to these resources.

It is a big deal for a DACA person to leave their home and go underground.  But it is even a bigger deal to be deported to a country where you likely have no ties.  Obama made a promise to the Dreamers.  “If you step out of the shadows and into the system (register, pay social security, maintain a spotless criminal record, pay an annual fee of $500) then you can stay without fear of deportation.”  Trump has broken that promise.    Congress is unlikely to fix this.  So it falls on us.  And for some Dreamers, it means returning to the shadows.

Building a social network to help immigrants finds hosts and staffing volunteers to help them land safely and comfortably is the humane and fair thing to do.  It is also criminal.   When outlaws are in control of the country, to make things right, you might just have to become an outlaw too.

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Useful articles:

• Vox on the 4 big lies Jeff Sessions told to end of DACA
• Fortune Magazine on what DACA kids contribute