A large majority of Americans, including Republicans, recognize that the Dreamers are in an immigration bind of their parents’ making, and that it would be unfair and inhumane to kick them out of the country in which they were raised. The vast majority of the Dreamers are law-abiding, productive members of society, and their ranks include doctors, priests and teachers as well as police, firefighters, and paramedics.

What possible public benefit comes from kicking these people out of the country now? In fact, ending DACA and withdrawing permission for the Dreamers to work could cost the economy from $200 billion to more than $400 billion, depending on whose estimate you buy.

As The Times’ editorial board has pointed out, this problem is fixable. But it has become a crisis for two reasons: Trump blew up the status quo by ending DACA, and Republican congressional leaders refuse to move a clean bill to resolve the Dreamers’ status.

Instead, they — following Trump’s lead — are using the Dreamers to push an immigration agenda that does not have enough political support to get through on its own.

Compromise is, indeed, the heart of the democratic process. But this isn’t an exercise in horse-trading — you give us X, we’ll give you Y — as much as it is a hostage-taking of the Dreamers.

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