Advocates were counting on Democrats to force Republicans to guarantee a protected future for undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children during negotiations surrounding the US government shutdown.<\/p>\n
But the American government was open on Tuesday morning after a three-day closure without any concrete protections for those often called “Dreamers”.<\/p>\n
The closure began Friday at midnight after Republicans and Democrats couldn’t come to an agreement on the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals programme (DACA), the Obama-era policy that protected Dreamers from deportation.<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump ended DACA in September, saying he would reinstate protections in exchange for funding for a wall on the US-Mexico border and increased militarisation of immigration enforcement authorities – two election campaign promises.<\/p>\n
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, agreed to pass a short-term funding bill to keep the government open until February 8 after Majority Leader Mitch McConnell promised to discuss continued protections for DACA recipients.<\/p>\n
“We are furious to see that Democrats were the first ones to cave. We thought they had finally grown a backbone,” Paul Quinonez, a Dreamer and activists from Washington state, told Al Jazeera. “Instead, we saw them deliver a victory to the Republican Party in exchange for vague promises.”<\/p>\n
Trump and some Republicans have called the shutdown a “failure” for Democrats.<\/p>\n
The three-day negotiation period was a missed opportunity, wherein “Democrats let a historic moment go to waste in exchange for more time,” he added.<\/p>\n
Some Republicans have shown a willingness to pass a version of the DREAM Act. In September, shortly after Trump rescinded DACA, three Senators introduced the Succeed Act, a version more “friendly” to Republicans.<\/p>\n
The Succeed Act offered a 15-year path to citizenship and featured provisions similar to those of DACA.<\/p>\n
Other provisions blocked beneficiaries from sponsoring relatives to come to the US, which the Trump administration calls “chain migration” and the president is firmly against.<\/p>\n
Still, immigrant advocates still see a possibility for a version of the DREAM Act in the near future.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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