By Jared Bernstein February 16
The Washington Post
Jared Bernstein, a former chief economist to Vice President Joe Biden, is a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and author of ‘The Reconnection Agenda: Reuniting Growth and Prosperity’.
Front-page news poses a stark reminder that the fate of the “dreamers,” undocumented immigrants brought here as children, remains unresolved, as three bills addressing the issue failed in the Senate. That’s a huge problem for those who are or would be covered by DACA, but it’s far from the Trump administration’s only line of attack against immigrants.
There’s another attack, one you won’t find on the front page. It comes to us through a leaked proposal for a policy that would, without congressional approval (it’s a rule change, not a law), change how immigration authorities weigh the receipt of public benefits in determining the status of legal immigrants already here or those seeking to enter the United States. (more…)