Trump and DeVos Two of a “Crime”: Anti-Immigrants and DACA and War on Public Education

Phony smiles as they hinder, harm, and hamper millions

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos strikes again (FYI: Her overall documented very poor education record here) and now more viciously than ever perhaps vis-à-vis DACA persons – story headline:

The Education Department will ban colleges from giving DACA students emergency aid.

The Education Department will prohibit colleges from granting emergency assistance to undocumented students, even those currently under federal protection, according to guidance just issued to colleges and universities. 

DeVos ordered higher education institutions to distribute more than $6 billion in emergency relief only to students who are eligible for federal financial aid, including U.S. citizens or legal residents. 

The directive effectively excluded the hundreds of thousands of students who attend college under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) — an Obama-era policy program that protects hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children.

I note about DACA persons serving in the military: 

There are approximately 820 individuals either currently serving in the military, or who have signed contracts to serve, who are recipients of DACA and were recruited via the Military Accessions Vital to National Interest (MAVNI) Pilot Program.  

This reflects approximately 520 individuals in the active duty and reserve component (to include the Selected Reserve (SELRES) Delayed Training Program) and approximately 310 in the Delayed Entry Program.  

Of the approximately 520 currently serving, personnel master files reflect that approximately 140 have self‐reported a change in their citizenship status to indicate naturalization.  Citizenship data is as of July 31, 2017 and subject to change due to attrition, discharges, or other pending naturalization requests. 

Further, Trump has moved to end the program, but that effort is awaiting Supreme Court review, and related to that is this story vis-à-vis the current COVID-19 crisis and impact on DACA persons (NY Times).

The funding is part of about $12 billion allocated for colleges and universities under a $2 trillion coronavirus stabilization law that Congress passed last month to help them recoup financial damages caused by pandemic. Half of those funds are supposed to go directly to students affected by campus closures. 

In the coming weeks, schools are expected to award emergency relief grants to students to pay for expenses like food, housing, child care and technology.

The stimulus law, titled the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES), but it did not explicitly define which students qualified for the funds. DeVos defined it and now it’s her choice.

DeVos education department a spokeswoman said in statements to reporters: “The CARES Act makes clear that this taxpayer-funded relief fund should be targeted to U.S. citizens, which is consistently echoed throughout the law.”

Important Note: The department’s guidance has alarmed higher education advocates and policy experts, who said it ran counter to what DeVos told them when she announced that he funding was coming.

Who are some DACA students? A look back in time from Trump, via a tweet naturally:

Trump suggested that he could veto a massive $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill, raising the prospect of a government shutdown since it does not include funding for his long-promised wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and the fact that it does not extend protections for beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

(With a whopper of a blatant and raw Trump lie):

“I am considering a VETO of the Omnibus Spending Bill based on the fact that the 800,000 plus DACA recipients have been totally abandoned by the Democrats (not even mentioned in Bill) and the BORDER WALL, which is desperately needed for our National Defense, is not fully funded.”  — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 23, 2018

The historical background of the Obama EO on DACA and Immigrants in General: Basically, it allows up to 4 million undocumented immigrants legal work status, and an additional 1 million protection from deportation. Most wide-reaching EO in history – and the GOP was and remains furious. 

But, as usual history notes otherwise – putting the GOP (again) on the wrong side, to wit: – Obama's EO is NOT the most wide-reaching in history – plenty of examples are here.

What Obama's Executive Action Can Do – two key points:

1.  It would offer a legal reprieve to the undocumented parents of U.S. citizens and permanent residents who've resided in the country for at least five years. This would remove the constant threat of deportation. Many could also receive work permits.

2.  It would expand the 2012 DACA program that allowed young immigrants, under 30 years old, who arrived as children to apply for a deportation deferral and who are now here legally. Immigrants older than 30 now qualify, as do more recent arrivals.

My 2 cents: Face it, Trump is a racist whose primary target is immigrants (documented in his many numerous public statements) and that is despite his fake words otherwise to show his “compassion for everyone.” Hell, his own family came from Germany and one, his own grandfather, Friedrich Trump, came here as a 16-year old dodging military service and later Germany pulled his citizenship saying he was a draft dodger (how ironic is that)?

Friedrich Trump Immigrant Died: Queens, NY

(May 30, 1918 from the “Spanish Flu”)

A bit of Trump family history: The Trump family’s gold-rush story began with Friedrich, or Fred, as he was known, left Bavaria (Germany) at the age of 16 with little more than a suitcase for the purpose to evade German military service.

He headed to New York to work as a barber before venturing west in search of riches. Following stints in Seattle and now-defunct Monte Cristo, the gold fever carried him to Bennett, where he and partner Ernest Levin built the Arctic Restaurant, which touted itself as the best-equipped in town.

It was open around the clock with “private boxes for ladies and parties,” according to an advertisement (page 5 “Artic Restaurant”) in the December 9, 1899 edition of the Bennett Sun newspaper. 

The boxes typically included a bed and scale for weighing gold dust used to pay for “services,” according to a three-generational biography 

by *Gwenda Blair, who traced the origins of the Trump family’s wealth. 

* From the book: “The Trumps” begins with a portrait of President Trump’s immigrant grandfather (Friedrich), who as a young man built hotels for miners in Alaska during the Klondike gold rush. His son, Fred, took advantage of the New Deal, using government subsidies and loopholes to construct hugely successful housing developments in the 1940s and 1950s. The profits from Fred’s enterprises paved the way for President Trump’s roller-coaster ride through the 1980s and 1990s into the new century. With his talent for extravagant exaggeration — which he calls “truthful hyperbole” — he has turned that deal-making know-how of his forebears into an art form (and into his own book: “The Art of the Deal”).

Of course, in the rough-and-tumble frontier towns of that era, the Arctic’s business model built on food, booze, and sex was common. He died at age 49 in 1918 from the world-wide “Spanish flu.” How ironic is that?

Yeah this Trump hypocrite and since day-one he has been anti-immigrant – how can that be? Simple: Trump is hateful toward and about most immigrants (even though 2 of his 3 wives were immigrants).

Finally: Where would Trump be today had his family forefathers stayed in Germany and not immigrated to the U.S.? – Oops…!!!

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