The 'Dreamers' now dealing with American nightmare

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

Uh, never mind.

That famous quote, which comes from Emma Lazarus' sonnet, of course adorns the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor.

But for many of those "Dreamers" brought to the United State illegally by their parents, the American Dream yesterday turned into a possible nightmare.

That's what happened when President Trump sent his Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, out to announce that the administration was rescinding the DACA program, put in place by President Obama to offer protection to these young people - many of whom have never known another home.

Sessions focused on the constitutionality of Obama's unilateral edict, taken after Congress refused to act.

In a way, Trump is now tossing the ball back at Congress, giving them six months to come up with a solution.

In the meantime, 800,000 young immigrants face the possibility of their American dream ending in deportment.

Last night Trump tweeted that if Congress did not address the matter, he would "revisit" it.

The ball is now in Congress' court.

That does not bode well for the "Dreamers."

If they couldn't get anything done on health care, or just about any other issue, what makes any of them believe they will reach any kind of agreement on the most contentious issue of immigration.

No one seems to doubt the need to do something. It's how DACA was done - and in reality who did it - that is the problem.

Since it was something that was done by President Obama, naturally President Trump wants it undone, just as he made his first order of business once in office the attempt to repeal and replace Obamacare. We saw how that worked out.

Democrats likely will seek a stand-alone measure fixing DACA, while Republicans are likely to try to tie it to funding for the president's dream of a wall on the southern border.

With Houston still recovering from the wrath of Harvey, Hurricane Irma taking aim at Florida, and the world trying to deal with the wrath of Kim Jong Un in North Korea, President Trump decided now is the time to take up the DACA battle.

CLICK HERE to see how many local representatives are reacting to the news. A rally will be held today at noon outside the district office of U.S. Rep. Pat Meehan on Sproul Road in Springfield urging protection for the "Dreamers."

The clock is now ticking.

Congress has six months to act. Actually, they only have a month, since that is when those in the country illegally actually will have to apply for an exemption.

What do you think the chances of Congress getting anything done are?

Yeah, that's what I think too.

Those tired, huddled masses aren't entering New York harbor. They're wandering the halls of Congress.

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