Dreamers, who a decade ago were cautiously emerging to tell their stories in public, have now assumed a central role in the nation’s immigration debate, and their fate has become a focus of presidential election cycles since the failure of the Dream Act in 2010. Immigrant rights activists said the new Dream Act represents a shift after two years in which Trump and his conservative allies sought to drive the immigration debate to the right, focusing negotiations on enforcement provisions. But immigration hawks cautioned that support for dreamers should not be viewed in a vacuum that discounts the public’s concerns over border security. Republicans have argued that offering an “amnesty” to immigrants without tightening border controls would lead to increased illegal immigration. “People usually give credit to the president who is in office when the bill is passed,” Anderson said, pointing to the comprehensive 1986 immigration bill signed by President Ronald Reagan.

Source: Washington Post March 12, 2019 21:50 UTC