LETTERS: Don’t use Dreamers as bargaining chips

SHARE LETTERS: Don’t use Dreamers as bargaining chips
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Last year, some 42,000 immigrants from Illinois were in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. | Tatiana Flowers/AP

President Donald Trump and Republicans say they’re willing to grant Dreamers permanent legal status if Democrats compromise on other issues. Therefore, both parties are not opposed to Dreamers becoming future Americans. While Dreamers continue to wait in uncertainty — after waiting nearly two decades for action to be taken on their behalf — members of Congress continue to bicker about unrelated matters such as merit-based immigration and changes to the diversity visa program.

Is holding the fate of Dreamers hostage — unless Democrats give Republicans victory in their unrelated immigration goals — the way to treat a group of future Americans? Republicans are using these innocent immigrants as bargaining chips while real human lives hang in the balance.

Hundreds of Dreamers have already lost their status and hundreds of thousands of others continue to wake up every day, unsure whether they will keep their jobs or even remain in the country months from now.

A bill protecting Dreamers must be passed immediately, to allow time for a new system to be implemented and for applications to be processed. There is no time to wait. However, Republicans show no urgency towards these lives.

Republicans pretend the debate is about border security, but Democrats have already compromised on that issue. Republicans would rather deport Dreamers than shelve their proposals to change legal immigration. Republican treatment of Dreamers is nothing short of shameful. These future Americans deserve better.

Nicolas Fernandez, Joliet

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Blago tapes show money talks in Illinois

Len Goodman, still representing disgraced former governor Blagojevich, wants us to believe that the current tapes being played in the Rauner campaign spot are proof of Rod’s honest intentions (“Newly leaked phone recordings reveals Rod Blagojevich’s honest intentions: lawyer,” Jan. 17). I have another take on that entirely.

It actually proves that Blago did use his position to try and get something in exchange for his “effin’ golden” nugget of the Senate post. It wasn’t the supposed $1 million or more offered for Jesse Jackson Jr., but it was pay to play nonetheless.

An attempt to influence the speaker of the House by giving his daughter the coveted spot smacks of impropriety. A man of integrity would use the appointment to give Illinois voters the best voice in Congress, not the ones with the most money or clout. Anyone who believes King Madigan wouldn’t someday return the favor is naïve. This goes to the core of what is wrong with Illinois.

The argument all along has been that this is business as usual. Maybe usual for our beleaguered state, but is honest leadership so much to ask for? After all, why would you be on the phone with one of the state’s biggest billionaires? Influence and money, it’s what talks in Illinois.

Scot Sinclair, Third Lake

Shovel your own spot

I have the perfect solution for Janette Lopez (“LETTERS: Just say no to calling ‘dibs,’ ”  Jan. 17). and all the others who would rather stop the long-honored tradition of dibs in Chicago. My solution is for her and others to park their vehicles in an “unshoveled” spot, shovel your own spot, and show respect for your neighbors and their hard work.

Don’t be the neighbor known for taking someone’s shoveled spot; it’s not a good thing.

Walter Brzeski, Belmont Heights

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