Executive-Legislative Relations
Checks and balances make the government move in a proper way without giving someone total power to either the Supreme Court, Congress, or the President. So far we have learned that the president can “check” congress by vetoing bills that are sent to his desk to become laws. On the other side congress has the power of the two-thirds vote to pass a bill into law without the presidents approval. Congress can also confirm a president, agree on the presidents budget, and can even impeach the president. Lately there have been a lot of things in the news dealing with Donald Trump butting heads with congress about many things ranging from confirming Judge Kavanaugh as well as Trump wanting to pull the United States out of NATO. One situation that really caught my eye was the immigrant separation scandal. Congress had to move quickly to change what Trump’s policy was saying so that completely innocent children were not being locked in cages and separated from their family. It is pretty crazy that this whole situation happened anyway.
Under Trump’s administration has made the decision to prosecute every illegal immigrant that is caught crossing the border illegally and will be tried by a federal judge and go to federal prison if convicted (Lind). This in turn has led to thousands of immigrant children being stripped away from their parents in a new country that, honestly, they did not ask to be in. One option for the children has been to go into foster care which for those few that do are lucky, because the alternative is far worse. They were stuck in government detention centers locked behind fences in terror that they would never see their parents again. Most of the children would cry themselves to sleep thinking they would never see their parents again. This is psychologically traumatic for children to be ripped away from their parents.
This all started in February when the Trump White House decided to start separating children from their parents when they came here illegally even if they were seeking asylum because as soon as the family was captured they were sent to federal prison to serve time until they are put on trial (Lind). Once it was discovered the conditions these children were living in while also separated from their parents Congress and, honestly, the entire nation stepped in. Many protests all across the nation started happening as well as an outcry from Democrats and Republicans alike trying to find a quick solution to fix this. This public outcry actually lead to Donald Trump signing an executive order to reunite families for 30 days while congress worked to find a solution. Well seeing as our country and politics is so divided obviously there was never a solution agreed upon.
This debacle was bad from the start. This started with Trump enforcing a “zero tolerance” policy when it came to illegal immigrants trying to cross the border (Miroff). This has caused the families to be separated because the parents are sent to a federal prison while the children are left in government supervised camps. It gets even worse when you find out that no one is keeping track of where these children are being sent and who they belong to. “The rapid implementation and sudden reversal of the policy whiplashed multiple federal agencies, forcing the activation of an HHS command center ordinarily used to handle hurricanes and other catastrophes.” It really is amazing how ineffective the government can be when it comes to taking action quickly for the well-being of children. “Attorney General Jeff Sessions made the government’s policy explicit. At a speech in Arizona, he spoke to those who attempted to “smuggle” children across the border: “[W]e will prosecute you, and that child will be separated from you as required by law. If you don’t like that, then don’t smuggle children over our border.”” (Analysis Trump’s Deterent). The problem with that thought process though is this is still not really deterring anyone from trying to come here illegally. The number of families attempting to cross the border and being caught in the act went from 5,474 to 8,873 in March, then to 9,653 in April while dropping slightly to 9,485 in May. “That May figure is the highest since 2014, when violence in Central America led to a surge in border crossings.” This tells me that these people are looking for an escape from their current situation. What I have been lead to believe about America is that we take the tired and the meek and give them a refuge and give them the opportunity at the American Dream.
Congress has done very little so far to make necessary changes. Congress is so divided on this due to the Republicans wanting to completely eradicate illegal immigration and Democrats wanting to welcome in as many needy people as possible. Though Congress has come close to passing some type of immigration reform, it has repeatedly failed to resolve one of the country's most intractable debates. Now, with a combative Congress and an unpredictable president who has used hard-line immigration goals as a negotiating tactic, lawmakers appear as far as ever from passing immigration reform. It seems like Trump is strong handing his way to forcing some sort of rushed decision on immigration by playing psychological chicken with congress by separating families to get something done.
Congress’s plan does not sound terrible but with so much in-fighting between democrats and republicans and even between republicans and other republicans, it makes it almost impossible to get anyone to agree on anything. The most recent bill I could find regarding immigration reform is called the Border Security and Immigration Act of 2018. In this bill it includes $25 billion towards a border wall, relief for Dreamers who were left when DACA was repealed by giving them 6 years of legal status that they can renew every 6 years, there would also be an e-verification system that would assure that employers are employing legal immigrants as well as some other things (Kelly). Most importantly in this bill they are trying to fix this child separation issue. Children who cross the U.S.-Mexico border with their parents or legal guardians would no longer be separated from their parents when the adults are taken into custody by the Department of Homeland Security for the misdemeanor crime of crossing the border illegally. “The provision would "fix" a court decision, known as the Flores settlement, that requires children to be released from detention after 20 days even when it means being removed from their parents.” (Kelly). Children who cross the border without their parents or legal guardians would be returned to their home countries. The bill allocates increased funding for family detention space to house children with their parents which is probably the best idea to solve this very important issue, yet with how split we are as a country everyone has to try and throw in as much stuff as possible to get the bill passed. But this bill was voted down. The Republican bill was voted down by republicans because they could not agree on whether they wanted to offer a path to citizenship for those young immigrants (Pramuk). The bill came about after House Republicans negotiated to divert an effort from some members to vote on a wider range of measures. All democrats turned this down because it included the funding of the wall.
This whole situation has shown me that the President and Congress can try and balance each other out as much as they want. That doesn’t always mean that they can effectively keep each other from abusing their power. Congress in situations like this need to reach across the aisle and try and get something done just for the sake of these children, regardless of if they are citizens or not.
Works Cited
“Analysis | Trump's 'Deterrent' of Separating Kids from Their Parents Isn't Deterring Many Migrants.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 7 June 2018, www.washingtonpost.com/
news/politics/wp/2018/06/07/trumps-deterrent-of-separating-kids-from-their-parents-
doesnt-even-seem-to-work/?utm_term=.6cb0ad129923.
Kelly, Erin. “Latest House Immigration Bill: Here's What You Need to Know about What Will Be Voted on Wednesday.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 2 July 2018, www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/06/26/latest-house-immigration-bill- heres-what-you-need-know/735631002/.
Lind, Dara. “The Trump Administration's Separation of Families at the Border, Explained.” Vox, Vox, 15 June 2018, www.vox.com/2018/6/11/17443198/children-immigrant-families- separated-parents.
Miroff, Nick. “What Went Wrong with Trump's Family-Separation Effort at the Border?” Chicagotribune.com, 29 July 2018, www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ politics/ct-trump- immigration-border-separations-analysis-20180728-story.html.
Pramuk, Jacob. “Immigration Reform: More than a Decade of Failure from Bush to Obama and Now Trump.” CNBC, CNBC, 29 June 2018, www.cnbc.com/2018/06/29/congress- unlikely-to-pass-immigration-reform-border-separation-bill.html.