In June of 2012, as he faced a difficult reelection cycle, President Barack Obama announced the implementation of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Despite his rhetoric, Obama was not acting out of a sudden epiphany of benevolence. By then, his Administration had failed to deliver passage of the DREAM Act in 2010 and was breaking histoic records in deportation and immigration enforcement actions. He was spurred to action by months of tireless, courageous advocacy and organizing by undocumented youth across the country. Many of these actions targeted Obama’s reelection campaign directly, including sit-ins in his campaign offices.
As the President publicly feigned powerlessness, claiming he lacked executive authority to shield immigrants from deportation and provide them work authorization, immigrant youth were fearless. For months, from coast to coast, they demanded the national spotlight, backed by a movement reardy to act on their behalf, and pose a choice of existential threat to Obama: act or lose re-election. The President caved. Undocumented organizers, at great risk and threat to their own safety and lives, successfully pressured Obama to deliver historic executive immigration relief for thousands of immigrant youth. DACA was a historic win and made it clear for everyone that when it came to immigration policy: victory belongs to the fearless.
Since the rollout of DACA, and especially since the rise of Trump, the Democratic Party has sought to position itself as the only viable alternative to the Republican Party on immigration policy. Each election cycle, Democrats campaign on promises of comprehensive immigration reform, protections for undocumented people, and relief for immigrant families. They accuse the GOP of cruelty as the centerpiece of their immigration policy, decry anti-immigrant rhetoric, and capitalize on fear and visceral pain of immigrant communities for their own political benefit. Ironically, many times, like in the 2024 presidential elections, the Party failed to settle on a definitive immigration reform platform. Instead, they relied on vague, broad platitudes that lacked substantive information on their plan forward. Nevertheless, the sanitized, corporate language manages to attract the donations of large, “pro-immigrant” organizations and donors who open their coffers without making any significant demands of the Party. At times this strategy has delivered great results for the Democrats.
Logic might suggest that the Democrats would use their electoral victories to act on immigration reform and respond to voters’ demands. But time and time again, they have squandered opportunities to enact meaningful pro-immigrant policies. In 2009, with Barack Obama in the White House and a Democratic supermajority in Congress, immigration reform was shelved in favor of other legislative priorities. At the same time, Obama went on to earn the title of “Deporter-in-Chief,” overseeing the removal of more than three million people — more than any president before him.
I grew up in the shadow of Obama’s deportation regime; I still remember how terrified I was going to school each day. I grew up believing that safety was not possible for families like ours. The world feels almost the same again now, but it did not have to.
In 2021, Biden and the Democrats’ decisive victory over Trump included a major emphasis on finally delivering immigration reform and revoking Trump’s most outrageous, cruel immigration policies. But they once again failed to pass any legislation protecting DACA recipients, providing a pathway to citizenship, or addressing the clear, unmistakable U.S.-driven causes of migration. Despite immigrants mobilizing, voting, and organizing to deliver Democrats a governing majority, the party’s leadership responded with little more than empty gestures and political calculations that ultimately sacrificed immigrant communities in the name of bipartisanship. Let us not forget that Democrats willingly decided to pass on the opportunity to pass immigration reform in 2021 by adhering to arcane rules presented by the unelected Senate Parliamentarian non-binding recommendation. Moreover, Biden opted to engage in a tit-for-tat with Republicans over being labeled the “toughest on immigration”. As such, he ended up keeping, reinstating, even expanding several of Trump’s most anti-immigrant policies, including virtually gutting the asylum process.
Out of power at the federal level, Democrats now hide behind their minority party status to justify their continued inaction while they launch fundraising campaigns based on this issue. In reality there is still much they can — and must — do, especially if they are truly to serve as the “opposition party” to Trump and the Republicans.
Congressional Democratic lawmakers should be working with immigrant communities, pro-immigrant organizations, and their colleagues to introduce and champion legislation that provides a pathway to citizenship. Even if it fails under Republican leadership, it still provides a critical vessel to channel the power and voice of immigrant communities. They should also be doing everything in their power to raise the humanity of immigrant communities and counteract Trump’s anti-immigrant lies. They can also use the same arcane tactics of Republicans by holding hearings, filibustering and speaking for hours on the floor, bringing Congress to a complete stop over this issue, if necessary.
As I write this, I think about the immigrant youth who put their own bodies on the line to halt deportations under the Obama Administration. What if Democrats did the same, literally and figuratively? Democrats should be taking every step possible, including participating in civil disobedience, to expose the inhumanity of Trump’s policy and force a narrative shift for meaningful policy change. Our lives are on the line and they cannot rely on the failed approaches of the last decade. Action on immigration policy is a matter of courage and Democrats, especially in Congress, are always the first to cower. That has to change.
Democratic officials at the state and local level also hold incredible power to champion policies that protect and uplift immigrant communities. They can expand protections against deportations, ensure state funding for immigrant social services and safety net programs, fight back against anti-immigrant policing, and pass legislation extending undocumented immigrants employment, driver’s licenses, and healthcare. California, with its Democratic supermajority, should be leading the nation in protecting immigrant workers and students — yet time and time again, they have killed or watered down bills that would make a tangible difference in the lives of undocumented people. The current federal onslaught of violent anti-immigrant policy was ushered in part by the ability of Republican administrations in Florida and Texas to control and dominate the national discourse on immigration. Democratic states should take a page out of their playbook and do the same to support, protect, and uplift immigrants.
The Democratic Party cannot keep treating immigrants as a talking point when elections come around and a footnote when they govern. If they are to be allies to immigrant communities, they must prove it — not just when it’s politically convenient, but when it’s difficult, when it’s “unpopular”, and when millions of lives hang in the balance. It is not enough to simply claim to “not be Republicans.” You cannot hail our communities as heroes, but fail to treat us as such through substantive action.
The fight for immigrant rights does not begin and end with resisting Trump or other anti-immigrant extremists on “the other side”. The Democratic Party has shown they can harbor the same sentiments and policies if they view it as politically expedient. As someone whose life hangs in between, I do not believe giving up on immigrant communities is a winning strategy. Now is the time to double down, to reinforce those commitments, and to be galvanized to action.
If Democrats truly want to be the party for and of immigrant communities, they must move beyond platitudes and commit to action. In the meantime, immigrant communities are not waiting — we are organizing, mobilizing, and demanding more. It is time Democrats, our “allies” do the same. If there is one thing we have taught you, let it be this: cowards do not win.
