A DREAM Goes Sour

Obama supporters, with a helping hand from the media, insist that it's all Mitt Romney's fault. In an interview last month with The Denver Post, the Republican challenger said that, if he is elected, anyone who has received a DACA visa should expect that the agreement would be honored and "the visa would continue to be valid." But the next day, the Romney campaign tacked on an addendum -- no new visas would be granted.

Romney also told the newspaper that he was confident that by the time the two-year visas expired, he would have in place "a full immigration reform plan." From those comments, one can infer that he intends, as part of his plan, to include a pathway to legal status for undocumented students.

Romney can't be blamed for undocumented students being wary of DACA. The Republican made his remarks in October, but immigration lawyers have been noticing a reluctance on the part of eligible applicants to apply since the program launched in August. They tell me that -- for the first two months -- people would call their offices, ask questions, thank them, and hang up. By the time Romney stated his position, we could already see the number of DACA applications were low.

For this, we have to blame the Obama administration, which -- on immigration -- has been dishonest and acted in bad faith. One example is the Secure Communities program, which requires local and state police to lend a hand to immigration agents by profiling the people they arrest for even minor infractions and handing their fingerprints over to federal authorities. The administration told the states and localities that the program would focus only on violent criminals and that they could opt out: neither turned out to be true.

Quietly but effectively, Obama has declared war on the illegal immigrant population in this country with the goal of thinning its ranks. It worked. But it also created a climate of caution, skepticism and fear. And now trust is in short supply.

As a result of cynical politics and poor leadership, a personal decision that was always going to be difficult has become nearly impossible.

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Ruben Navarrette's email address is ruben@rubennavarrette.com.