ArcaMax

Note, this was not an executive order, which is how presidents show they're serious about an issue. All Obama did was announce that the Department of Homeland Security was willing to shuffle the deck and defer the deportations of what turned out to be more than 600,000 undocumented young people who met certain conditions.

Ah yes, the conditions. That's part of what makes DACA so evil. You see, it's immoral to negotiate with the desperate, because they'll say "yes" to any terms you lay out. You have them over a barrel.

And all DHS wanted in return for a renewable two-year dispensation from deportation and a temporary work permit was, well, everything. Dreamers had to provide their fingerprints, mugshots, home addresses, names of parents and siblings who might also be undocumented -- all their personal information. Applicants had to basically turn themselves into law enforcement and get arrested, and then they'd be let go on a short lease for two years as if on parole.

Talk about a rotten deal. Dimwitted right-wingers like to say that Obama came up with an unlawful executive amnesty.

The Supreme Court will decide whether it was lawful. But, in the court of public opinion, anyone with half a brain can see it was never amnesty. That's something for nothing. Dreamers gave up everything, and now Trump knows exactly where to find them -- and their loved ones.

DACA isn't worth defending. And how dreadful that the immigration debate forces undocumented people, and those of us who want the best for them, to look at such weak gruel and declare it a five-course meal.

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Ruben Navarrette's email address is ruben@rubennavarrette.com. His daily podcast, "Navarrette Nation," is available through every podcast app.

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