DACA BEHIND THE MEDIA SMOKESCREEN

     I don't recall much of Jeff Sessions' career as a US Senator, but he is certainly in his element as US Attorney-General. Sessions today released a two-page statement giving his thoughts on President Trump's decision to repeal DACA. The statement shows that Sessions is a man possessed of an above-average legal mind; and thus far it is the best defense of the President's policy produced.

      Sessions presents three facts about DACA: all buried by the Corporate Media. The first of these is that DACA was illegally implemented by President Obama in 2012:

     "The DACA Program was implemented in 2012 and essentially provided a legal status including work authorization and other benefits including Social Security to 800,000 mostly adult illegal aliens. The policy was implemented unilaterally amid great controversy and legal concern after Congress rejected Legislative proposals to extend similar benefits, on numerous occasions, to this same group of illegal aliens. In other words, the Executive Branch, through DACA, deliberately sought to achieve what the Legislative Branch specifically refused to authorize on multiple occasions."

     The Corporate Media, of course, is leaving out that little detail. Now Sessions cites several legal opinions to the effect of DACA's unconstitutional implementation, but the important precedent here is that the Trump Administration is striking a blow at what has been termed The Imperial Presidency.

       The Imperial Presidency refers to a tendency manifested in the late 20th and early 21st Centuries of the Executive Branch ruling outside our constitutional system of Checks-and-Balances. Presidents and the federal bureaucrats in his Cabinet simply made policies with little or no Congressional input. Frequently the Courts were called upon to uphold or deny such policies and give their rulings the force of actual law. Needless to say, this tendency was a huge advantage to the Deep State. Trump and Sessions are signaling here that this policy is at an end and that Congress is coming back to rightful position as a law-making body.

        The second point Sessions makes about DACA is that the policy itself was badly flawed and that legal challenges to it were already underway:

        "It is with these duties and principles in mind, and in light of imminent litigation, that we reviewed the Obama Administration's DACA policy. Our collective wisdom is that the DACA policy is vulnerable to the same legal and constitutional challenges that the Courts recognized with the DAPA Program; which was enjoined on a nationwide basis in a decision upheld by the US 5th Circuit Court. The 5th Circuit specifically concluded that DACA had not been implemented in a fashion that allowed sufficient discretion, and that DAPA was foreclosed by 'Congress' careful plan.' In other words, it was inconsistent with constitutional Separation of Powers. That decision was affirmed by the US Supreme Court."

       Thus it happens that, even if Trump favored DACA, impending Court challenges would have forbidden him to implement it. The Justice Department was evidently reviewing the case and found it legally indefensible. Did the Corporate Media tell us anything about 'imminent litigation'? No---they have spun the story to accuse Trump falsely of doing what Obama actually did: acting unilaterally.

        And we can also deduce from this that the usual pack of State Attorneys-General who are threatening to challenge Trump's decision are engaging in nothing but a publicity stunt; because the Courts are already decided on the issue.

       Sessions also addresses the well-meaning organizations who have legitimate concerns about those affected by DACA's repeal. He reminds them that DACA itself started the crisis.

        "The effect of this unilateral executive amnesty, among other things, contributed to a surge of unaccompanied minors on the Southern Border that yielded terrible humanitarian consequences."

       In fact in 2012, the United Nations, the foreign press, and human-rights groups---in short, everybody except the US Media and the Obama Administration---were calling the situation a humanitarian disaster. Outside of the regions directly impacted, few Americans knew that thousands of children and legal minors literally were being dumped at the US-Mexico border with no provision for placing or caring for them. These children and minors were being warehoused anywhere and everywhere space was available. It was a disaster indeed, several of the youngsters died either en route to the US or even while here.

        But the Corporate Media didn't criticize Obama then, just as they haven't brought up the crisis now. By repealing DACA, Trump is ending one of the major blunders of the Obama Administration before further damage is done. As Sessions says, this is what we elected Trump to do. As for the Corporate Media, nobody elected them to do anything.