It all boils down to nothing more than a crass political calculation on the part of Democrats ... a calculation that could very well backfire on them. Democrats don't give a sh!t about the so-called "Dreamers" ... the "Dreamers" are simply a tool to the power-hungry Dims.
http://pjmedia.com/election/memo-from-former-obama-staffer-reveals-why-democrats-might-shut-down-the-government-over-daca/
As another spending bill deadline looms, Democrats seem willing to shut down the government in order to save the Obama-era program Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). The program involved allowing "Dreamers," children of immigrants who have integrated into American society, to remain in the country, despite their questionable legal status. A memo from Jennifer Palmieri, who served as director of communications for President Barack Obama and candidate Hillary Clinton, revealed why Democrats may be willing to fall on their swords for DACA.
"The fight to protect Dreamers is not only a moral imperative, it is also a critical component of the Democratic Party's future electoral success," Palmieri, now president of the Center for American Progress (CAP) Action Fund, wrote in the revealing memo. ...
Other organizations, such as CREDO and MoveOn.org, are also pressuring Democrats to reject a compromise on DACA. When a government funding bill passed the Senate in late December, MoveOn.org publicly shamed vulnerable Senate Democrats for refusing to risk their 2018 re-election to shut down the government right before Christmas. ...
So, there you have it ... if the government is "shut down," the Democrats OWN that responsibility - because they are publicly calling for it if they don't get their way.
Democrats are tearing themselves apart over DACA because the proposal is popular. As Palmieri pointed out in her memo, "A September poll by Latino Decisions found that 91 percent of Latinos want Congress to pass a Dream Act with a path to earned citizenship. But public support for Dreamers extends far beyond Latinos. For some context, a fall Washington Post-ABC poll found 86 percent of Americans support protecting Dreamers. Similarly, a Politico/Morning Consult poll found that only 15 percent of Americans believe that Dreamers should be deported."
This does not mean the American people want Democrats to shut down the government over DACA, however. As Michael Graham pointed out for CBS News, more than 60 percent of Americans say they want increased border security as part of a deal for Dreamers.
Republicans have called for an end to "diversity visa lotteries" and chain migration, along with a crackdown on sanctuary cities. A Politico/Morning Consult poll last year found that a majority of Americans oppose all of these policies, and a full 80 percent said they opposed sanctuary cities.
Worse, news stories have undergirded the danger of these policies. Graham listed the shooting of Kate Steinle - by a repeat offender shielded from federal authorities due to San Francisco's sanctuary city policy - and the two recent New York City terror attacks last year, both of which involved attackers who took advantage of immigration loopholes.
FiveThirtyEight's Harry Enten further underscored why a Democrat government shutdown over DACA would be a bad idea. A Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health poll found that only 17 percent of Americans consider a replacement for DACA to be an extremely important priority for Congress and President Trump. The issue ranked twelfth out of 15 domestic issues. Even only 20 percent of Democrats said so.
"Most people want DACA replaced. But for a lot of people, it's not enough of a priority to shut down the government," Enten explained.
A Rasmussen Reports poll found that if no additional money was spent on border control, 55 percent of voters said they were opposed to a shutdown over protecting people covered under DACA. A mere 27 percent were in favor of it.
A recent Morning Consult survey found that a mere 25 percent of voters were "definitely" willing to prompt a government shutdown to preserve DACA, while 28 percent said they were definitely not.
That poll also found that 63 percent of American voters agreed with the statement, "Members of Congress should take all necessary steps to avoid a government shutdown. They should achieve their policy goals another way."
Ironically, if Democrats listen to the Palmieri memo and shut down the government over DACA, they may lose in the short run in the attempt to win in the long run.
Fox & Friends' Brian Kilmeade hit on what could be the most devastating part of the Palmieri memo. "It's really politics, not their heart, that's pushing Democrats," he said. ...
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