As the United States Supreme Court prepares to start hearing arguments on the legalities and authority exercised by President Donald J. Trump to shutdown the Obama era policy known as DACA, I ask myself many questions.
As I look at the people arguing the validity of the program, I can’t help to notice the lack of American flags among those who claimed to belong in this country. I see flags from every other Latin American country, I see signs in Spanish, and all I can hear is pure hatred towards the country they claim to have a right to live in.
As a Combat Veteran and retired Federal Law Enforcement Officer, the American flag means everything I fought for. I was born in Puerto Rico, and despite the fact Puerto Rico has its own flag, the only flag I have ever flown in my house is the beautiful Stars and Stripes.
Since passing of the act by the Continental Congress in 1777 authorizing the creation of a flag for this great nation, many men and woman have died defending it. The American flag, as the Constitution, is a symbol of freedom worldwide. Countries fighting for their own freedom from fascism and communism often march with the American flag as a symbol of strength and resolution. So why people who claim to want to be in this country won’t do the same?
It is embarrassing, and actually sad, to see DACA recipients on the steps of the Supreme Court waving foreign flags while speaking Spanish and demanding they be accepted by our society.
Citizenship is a privilege, not a right, and those seeking that privilege ought to earn that privilege, not by waving foreign flags, but by waving the American flag, embracing our culture, speak the English language, and actually loving this great country.
As an American of Spanish heritage, and as a citizen of this great country, I despise illegal immigration, illegal aliens, and anybody who has no respect for our laws. I love my flag, my language, and my country, and I wouldn’t trade them for anything in this world.
As the Supreme Court of the United States embarks on this journey, I hope and pray they will come to the understanding that DACA was an unconstitutional action, even admitted to be by then President Barack Obama, and that is up to the United States Congress to pass the laws and for the President of the United States to enforce such laws. This is an issue for the United States Congress, not for the Supreme Court to legislate from the bench.
The Judiciary was always meant to be the weakest branch of the three branches because the framers understood the importance of the Congress and their duty to enact laws. The Federalist Papers are full of examples in which they intended for this to be. In recent years the Supreme Court has almost become a legislative branch by actively reversing current law enacted by the people we have elected to perform those duties.
I hope this time is different.