Save DACA

I took this photo 5 years ago when driving through western Maryland, and I remember feeling so angry. I was angry at whoever went to the trouble of creating and erecting this sign to intimidate immigrants, whether they were "illegal" or not.

Then my anger was replaced by a sort of condescending sympathy for this ignorant eejit (eejit because I was living in Ireland at the time). I mocked their inability to spell, and their inability to think the way I did. Honestly, this was also wrong. It's this mentality that has given us liberals a bad name in recent times... that we are judgmental, and over-sensitive, and perceive ourselves to be elite.

I did myself and this person an enormous disservice by falling into this trap that our government has created for us. Which has divided us beyond recognition.

Because ultimately, I believe the person (I'm guessing it was a man, but I could be wrong) wants something similar to what I want. A better country! 

The difference is, this person is operating on inaccurate information about newcomers to our country. They have believed lies that scapegoat immigrants for every problem facing our country, pointing the finger at workers who came to the US without a visa to work within an economy that has been created and sustained on the back of such exploitation. Although they came without the correct paperwork, you better believe they had an invitation. That invitation came directly from the wealthy business owners who took advantage of such cheap labor.

Although I'd love to discuss this further, I'm not sure we have the capacity as a country to think about these larger issues at the moment. The urgent issue facing us all today is the status of 800k young people, who have met very particular requirements, to legally attain special protections under #DACA.

The social and economic contributions of these individuals is so clear, it's hard for me to understand how this legislation is even up for debate. The cost of deportation, the cost of losing these people from our society (not to mention the cost of a wall), is so great it will continue to plummet our country into debt. Worse yet, ignoring the ethical obligation we have to these young people, who arrived here as children, and have made the US their home, would bring us to such a level of darkness that it's hard to imagine how long it would take to recover.

My question is this: what can we do?

Sharing facts feels so pointless, and seems to agitate this divide even further.

How can we, republicans and democrats alike, find common ground on these issues, which are so clearly bipartisan?

Please, help me understand what we can do next!