The U.S., which has become a country of migrants since its establishment, was a country where it was believed that every man had the right to pursue happiness or that he deserved a second chance. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the American dream withered.Migrants were now a problem that led the U.S. identity to diminish for the White-Christian dominant classes. The increasing proportion of Hispanics, consisting mostly of Catholics, in the U.S. population also affected the balances in American politics. Thus, the addressees of the racist attitude, which used to be Afro-Americans, changed. The priority in the political agenda of the White-Christians was to dismiss migrants and stop the flow of migration. Trump had promised in the election campaign that a wall would be built on the Mexican border and that undocumented immigrants would be removed.
In 2012, former U.S. President Obama introduced the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) which prevented 800,000 children who were brought to the country by their parents without documentation from being deported. DACA also provided the right to education and work for migrant children. Migrant-friendly Americans defined children, who were saved from the violence of crime cartels and poverty in their country, as dreamers who deserved a second chance. Radical right-wing publications, especially Breitbart News, brought up the crimes committed by a small group of nearly one million young people for a while.
When Trump failed to build the Mexican wall, he made a move to annul DACA. According to DACA advocates, this decision is a cruel policy that has dealt a deadly blow to the American dream. There is a great tragedy for young people who are not familiar with their country, educated in the U.S., who set up businesses, got married, and became homeowners there. Businessmen, artists, politicians, NGOs and the Catholic Church have taken action for a legislation that allowed these dreamers to stay. The Catholic Church has long been providing care, health and education services to migrants.
Breitbart manager Steve Bannon made statements that accused the Catholic Church and New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan, DACA’s advocate. According to Bannon, increasingly emptying churches obtained population and economic benefits through illegal migrants. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) issued a statement, stressing that helping migrants is a requirement in the Bible. Let it be reminded that Sebastian Gorka, Trump’s advisor who advocates harsh measures against migrants, came from Hungary to the U.S. in 2008 and obtained U.S. citizenship in 2012. Before he moved to the White House, Gorka was a Breitbart writer. Gorka, who was sacked one week after Bannon was fired from the White House, returned to Breitbart News.
While DACA worries about the young people with dreams, some states, especially Florida, including Trump's tourist facilities and hotels, continue to publish chirpy birth tourism ads for rich Russians. Cities like Miami have become attraction centers for the wealthy Russians and the wealthy from other nations who want to acquire U.S. citizenship for their children by giving birth to them in the country. Now the ball is in Congress’s court. Will Congress pull out the coffin’s nails in which the American dream is buried or not?
