On January 20th, 2018, we had a government shutdown. Ironically, this date also marks the one year anniversary of Trump taking office…yikes.
It only lasted two days technically, but the reasoning behind the shutdown still lingers into our political climate now and for the next few weeks. I’m here to let you know why it happened, and what it means moving forward.
There were two main arguments behind the shutdown. One was about DACA and the DREAM act, and the other, Trump’s Mexico border wall. DACA stands for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which protects anyone who may have moved to America illegally as a child, allowing them to grow up in America safely without the threat of deportation. The DREAM Act, which helps get these minors considered for permanent residency, is something the Democrats are advocating for and the Republicans are trying to get rid of. They want to get rid of that and deport people that have been safe underneath it for years, sending them back to their countries of origin that many have not been back to in years, forcing them to start a whole new life.
Remember all the conversation during the 2016 election about the Mexican Border Wall? Well, it’s back. Trump ran his campaign on the promise that he would build a wall to keep Mexican immigrants out, and now he wants to try to make that a reality. Democrats obviously wanted to stop this in its tracks but it didn’t’t go so well when Republicans buckled down on their insistence of the border wall. Democrats by the end of it were willing to concede the discussion of a border wall if it meant that DACA and the DREAM Act would be safe. Since that didn’t’t happen, voila, a government shutdown!
The shutdown ended three days after it began, but the conversation doesn’t stop here. As of right now, DACA expires in March since the Democrats weren’t able to strike up a compromise with the Republicans to keep it going. This means that if it doesn’t get renewed in the next few weeks, and if the Trump administration enforces deportation (which they have up until this point), people will be deported in large and crazy numbers.
In three weeks, there will be another conversation about funding. Republicans have said since Democrats signed off on discussing the wall funding, they will discuss the fate of DACA. People that support DACA and the DREAM act are protesting as much as they can, and calling upon their Democratic representatives to defend the acts that protect their entire lives.
Only time will tell now if DACA and the DREAM act are safe, or if the daunting border wall will become a reality and symbol of America’s recently harsh immigration policies. Although the shutdown was brief, it was important, and it’s still important to be aware of what went down. These issues are very polarizing, and that’s why it’s our duty as citizens to be up to date on what’s going on, so stay tuned in a few weeks for the outcome of this mess.