# DACA/Dreamer hypothetical (would you take a "fugitive" Dreamer into your home?) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 5, 2017, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daca-dreamer-hypothetical-would-you-take-a-fugitive-dreamer-into-your-home/795595 "2017-09-05T22:42:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daca-dreamer-hypothetical-would-you-take-a-fugitive-dreamer-into-your-home/795595/41 "2017-09-07T22:15:52Z")
How much rent are they going to pay? ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daca-dreamer-hypothetical-would-you-take-a-fugitive-dreamer-into-your-home/795595/42 "2017-09-08T07:27:07Z")
Typical SDMB: say “no,” and you’re the equivalent of a Nazi. Fuck off. I also find the vast disparity between posted answers and poll numbers interesting. I voted “no.” ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daca-dreamer-hypothetical-would-you-take-a-fugitive-dreamer-into-your-home/795595/43 "2017-09-08T13:57:54Z")
> [@ExTank](#): > > Typical SDMB: say “no,” and you’re the equivalent of a Nazi. Fuck off. Don’t tell other posters to fuck off outside of the Pit. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daca-dreamer-hypothetical-would-you-take-a-fugitive-dreamer-into-your-home/795595/44 "2017-09-08T14:14:24Z")
Depends. Some random “dreamer” with whom I have no history? Probably not. Someone I know to be a good person and have a history with? Yes. Without hesitation. Living in CA, I know lots and lots of folks who are here illegally. Many of them are fine, upstanding people. For adults who came here knowing it was wrong, I have great sympathy for them, but in the end, they took a risk and if they get deported, that was part of the risk. Not for the kids, though. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daca-dreamer-hypothetical-would-you-take-a-fugitive-dreamer-into-your-home/795595/45 "2017-09-08T14:19:06Z")
> [@Mdcastle](#): > > I’d not only refuse to take one in, I’d report him or her to the authorities. I don’t have any respect for people with such little respect for our laws that the choose to remain here illegally even after they’re adults. Once they’re back in they’re home country if they want to follow the rules and apply for legal immigration status here I’d be all for that. Emphasis added. > [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Presumably you would have felt the same about a slave who escaped (which was against the law), or a Jew in Nazi Germany who remained hidden (also against the law)? Why would you presume that? Do you think Jews in Nazi Germany had any chance of applying for immigration to the US once they were back in Germany? Or slaves returned to their masters in the antebellum South (being returned to freedom in the North)? ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daca-dreamer-hypothetical-would-you-take-a-fugitive-dreamer-into-your-home/795595/46 "2017-09-08T14:34:17Z")
If you are brought here at the age of 6 (the average age when DACA recipients came to the US) and lived here through adulthood without ever leaving the country (as is true for virtually every DACA recipient), this is your home. To say otherwise is applying, to put it really fucking mildly, a horrific double-standard. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daca-dreamer-hypothetical-would-you-take-a-fugitive-dreamer-into-your-home/795595/47 "2017-09-08T14:57:16Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Emphasis added. > > Why would you presume that? Do you think Jews in Nazi Germany had any chance of applying for immigration to the US once they were back in Germany? Or slaves returned to their masters in the antebellum South (being returned to freedom in the North)? Because his justification was that they broke the law. If that’s the only criteria, then obviously he wouldn’t have helped Jews or slaves hide, since that similarly would have been assisting them in breaking the law. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daca-dreamer-hypothetical-would-you-take-a-fugitive-dreamer-into-your-home/795595/48 "2017-09-08T15:19:54Z")
> [@ExTank](#): > > I also find the vast disparity between posted answers and poll numbers interesting. I also find it strange that most of those that voted “NO” refused to identify themselves by posting their reasons. Edited to add: I voted “YES” because because such a major betrayal by the government should be fought. ---
**Author:** ![Surreal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@Surreal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surreal)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daca-dreamer-hypothetical-would-you-take-a-fugitive-dreamer-into-your-home/795595/49 "2017-09-08T15:37:26Z")
If someone illegally entered your house and took up residence there, helping himself to your personal belongings without even asking, would you allow it? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daca-dreamer-hypothetical-would-you-take-a-fugitive-dreamer-into-your-home/795595/50 "2017-09-08T15:46:08Z")
> [@Surreal](#): > > If someone illegally entered your house and took up residence there, helping himself to your personal belongings without even asking, would you allow it? Piss-poor analogy, but what the hell: If I had previously promised to house and protect children, and the only home they knew was mine, then I would consider them part of my family. I would not bow to the whims of my neighbors, and I would not suddenly declare them not to be my family any more and force them to go someplace they had no memory of. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daca-dreamer-hypothetical-would-you-take-a-fugitive-dreamer-into-your-home/795595/51 "2017-09-08T15:59:08Z")
> [@Surreal](#): > > If someone illegally entered your house and took up residence there, helping himself to your personal belongings without even asking, would you allow it? In this analogy, is the person in question a 6-year-old who is putting back more than she is taking? ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daca-dreamer-hypothetical-would-you-take-a-fugitive-dreamer-into-your-home/795595/52 "2017-09-08T16:14:42Z")
I voted yes. I used to be heavily involved with immigrant rights and spent a lot of time with the DREAMers. The story was usually something like this: kid lives in the U.S., excels in school, applies to college, only to discover - surprise! They aren’t a U.S. citizen. Not only do they have no access to financial aid, they are at risk of being deported to a foreign country and never being with their friends or family again. Imagine having that life experience at 17 years old. Would you leave the country of your own volition? Abandon your life goals? Like hell you would. I personally can’t fathom that experience, but I view those kids as good people in a bad situation and would prefer they stick around. I have a comfortable life and I speak decent Spanish, so there’s no good reason not to help. Since most DREAMers I know had to work their way through college, it would be helpful for them not to have to pay rent. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daca-dreamer-hypothetical-would-you-take-a-fugitive-dreamer-into-your-home/795595/53 "2017-09-08T16:16:42Z")
ETA: If ICE showed up, I wouldn’t lie. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daca-dreamer-hypothetical-would-you-take-a-fugitive-dreamer-into-your-home/795595/54 "2017-09-08T16:18:18Z")
> [@ExTank](#): > > I also find the vast disparity between posted answers and poll numbers interesting. IMHO the disparity between the poll numbers and the reality for the country is probably even greater. I would expect the actual number of people who would do this is less than 5%. Possibly less than 1%. Probably mostly due to the people posting being unrepresentative. But I’ll bet many of the people voting “yes” wouldn’t actually do it if faced with a real situation. Talk is cheap. (In this case, it’s a cheap way to express feelings of moral opposition to ending the DACA program.) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daca-dreamer-hypothetical-would-you-take-a-fugitive-dreamer-into-your-home/795595/55 "2017-09-08T16:24:32Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > ETA: If ICE showed up, I wouldn’t lie. If ICE showed up I wouldn’t tell them anything. I’d tell them to go away unless they had a warrant. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daca-dreamer-hypothetical-would-you-take-a-fugitive-dreamer-into-your-home/795595/56 "2017-09-08T16:31:03Z")
I’d definitely do it if asked, and if I knew the person in question well enough to feel comfortable with them living in my home. But it’s less about altruism and more about the fact that I had my entire world view shattered in a different way at the same age, I was also highly ambitious, essentially thrown to the wolves, and I got through it with the support of people willing to sacrifice a little to make my life a whole hell of a lot easier. It’s not the same thing as what I went through, but it’s close enough that I can’t turn my back on DREAMers. But sure, talk is cheap. It doesn’t really matter because those kids are more often than not staying with their undocumented relatives. It’s not currently all that difficult to avoid detection. This isn’t WWII Germany. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daca-dreamer-hypothetical-would-you-take-a-fugitive-dreamer-into-your-home/795595/57 "2017-09-08T16:31:33Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > IMHO the disparity between the poll numbers and the reality for the country is probably even greater. I would expect the actual number of people who would do this is less than 5%. Possibly less than 1%. > > Probably mostly due to the people posting being unrepresentative. But I’ll bet many of the people voting “yes” wouldn’t actually do it if faced with a real situation. Talk is cheap. (In this case, it’s a cheap way to express feelings of moral opposition to ending the DACA program.) What a brilliant way to dismiss polls that don’t go the way you want them to! :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daca-dreamer-hypothetical-would-you-take-a-fugitive-dreamer-into-your-home/795595/58 "2017-09-08T16:34:04Z")
Your thinking that I have anything invested in the outcome of this poll is probably projection on your part. > [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > I’d definitely do it if asked, and if I knew the person in question well enough to feel comfortable with them living in my home. The second part is a huge qualifier. My own estimate was based in part on the notion that this would be uncommon, and that in most cases it be someone you didn’t know that well if at all. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daca-dreamer-hypothetical-would-you-take-a-fugitive-dreamer-into-your-home/795595/59 "2017-09-08T17:21:12Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Piss-poor analogy, but what the hell: If I had previously promised to house and protect children, and the only home they knew was mine, then I would consider them part of my family. When did We, the People, promise to house and protect children who came here illegally? ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daca-dreamer-hypothetical-would-you-take-a-fugitive-dreamer-into-your-home/795595/60 "2017-09-08T17:23:17Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > My own estimate was based in part on the notion that this would be uncommon, and that in most cases it be someone you didn’t know that well if at all. A stranger? I dunno. It’s fair to say I’m more likely to do it for a stranger than the average person, but it would really depend on context. I did a lot of volunteer work, some professional work, and self-education in that arena, and the DREAMer kids I knew personally were squeaky clean Ivy League grads. Probably they all are not, but that’s my own mental stereotype. The individuals at the forefront of this movement tend to be America’s best and brightest, kids who just want to go to school and succeed in life. The person’s willingness to contribute would be a significant factor. I’d expect them to be enrolled in school or chasing a career. (It might also be relevant that we’d like to foster teenagers someday. Both involve helping out a young person so they are more likely to succeed.) There’s an element of personal fulfillment here that supports the notion that all altruism is fundamentally selfish. And FWIW, I don’t view it at all like an Anne Frank situation and I find that paradigm rather distasteful. But deportation for these kids is still a bad thing I would like to prevent. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daca-dreamer-hypothetical-would-you-take-a-fugitive-dreamer-into-your-home/795595.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daca-dreamer-hypothetical-would-you-take-a-fugitive-dreamer-into-your-home/795595.md?page=4)