Now that the cancelation of Obama's illegal amnesty is potentially nigh, this argument is getting a lot of play in Republican circles.
Why should the children be held accountable for the actions of their parents?
Like most one sentence arguments, it's not really an argument, it's a mental shortcut that's meant to drive listeners to an unthinking conclusion. The problem with it is very basic.
No one is holding the illegal aliens who arrived here as children legally accountable for it. That's not what this is about. No one is prosecuting them. But that doesn't mean they have the right to legal status.
If your father embezzled millions of dollars from his company, if you didn't know about it, you wouldn't be liable for the theft. But you wouldn't get to keep the money.
If you're unknowingly living in a house that doesn't belong to you because of the actions of your parents, you still have to give it back. You're not being punished for their actions. But that doesn't mean you have a right to benefit from their illegal acts.
The DREAMERS are still here illegally. Their presence in this country is an injustice to the legal residents and legal immigrants. It's theft of rights, services (they frequently make use of social services) and voting representatiion (illegal aliens are included in the calculation of voting districts).
If there were a few dozen, hundred or even thousand such cases, we could shrug and give it a pass. And ask taxpayers and legal immigrants to absorb the loss. But we can't do that with 800,000 people. That's massive theft and abuse on a grand scale. It fundamentallly shifts rights away from millions of Americans in local areas who will lose their voting franchise as they find themselves in areas controlled by illegall aliens voting themselves freebies at their expense, the way so many Californians did, if the DREAMERS are legalized. It means that Americans will be on the hook for billions more in social services.
It's just wrong.
The DREAMERS have a certain call on our sympathy. But their American victims have both the morall and legal case to protect their rights.
It's sad when someone loses their house or has to change their lifestyle because their parents stole it. But it's those they stole it from who are the real victims.
