Response to Current Issues: “Immigration on D.A.C.A. Make American Great Again

In 2012, the Obama administration made an announcement that significantly changed the fate of DREAMers, “the undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States as children”, which introduced the new program referred to as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) (Singer & Svajlenka, 2013). While the program did not offer permanent legal status to the immigrants, it availed two significant benefits: a two-year respite from deportation and eligibility to work in the United States (Fathali, 2013). The administration then believed that the DACA program would work to protect the rights of people. However, President Trump held a different view (Krieg, 2018). Focusing on the leadership of president Trump, the current paper provides an evaluation of the immigration situation aiming at the effectiveness of the leadership style and tactics adopted by the leader in its management. Particularly, it is clear that Trump’s autocratic leadership style and lack of desire to consult with experts led to vague position of his administration with regard to DACA.

President Trump and Immigration on DACA

President Trump has been continuously shifting shifted his position on the DACA issue. Before the elections, Trump was against the program, terming it as an amnesty destined to bar the Americans from accessing unending opportunities (Gomez, 2018). As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump pledged to terminate both the DACA and DAPA (another program that supports illegal parents), asserting that they are illegal amnesties (Krieg, 2018). After the election, Trump lowered his tone on the issue and only talked of securing the borders and ensuring that illegal immigrants with criminal records are to be deported. The issue of DACA programs remained silent after the leader assumed the presidential office. Nevertheless, recent developments have seen the president talk of legalization of the program, a process that can either lead to its retention or abolition. A high level of uncertainty on the fate of the DACA program beneficiary is thus evident.

Evaluation of the President’s Leadership Style

It is with no doubt that the administration of President Trump has been out of the ordinary. The president exhibits a “tough” persona that has fueled his adoption of a coercive power base and autocratic leadership. The coercive power enabled the president to influence the decision of state officer by instilling fear and authority (Pierro et al., 2013). President Trump rarely appreciates consultative decision-making, rather has the confidence of imposing decisions on the subjects. According to Crosby and Bryson (2017), the coercive and autocratic management style exhibited by the president has brought forth his tough and ruthless nature in negotiations, leading to his intimidation of many stakeholders thus the many controversies.
The leadership style and power adopted by President Trump has caused negative and positive impacts. Through its strong power, Donald Trump has managed to create job opportunities for Americans and protect the citizen from unnecessary exploitation (Gomez, 2018). Nevertheless, he was accused of defrauding citizens, anti-Semitism and being a racist following his excessive use of power in decision-making. The leadership style and values exhibited by President Trump are more focussed on meeting the needs of the Americans, with minimal empathy for the immigrants (Fathali, 2013). In his position as the president, Trump has shown a heightened level of dislike for Non-Americans justified by his open communication on the social media and ruthless actions and comments on negotiations.
The leadership approach taken by President Trump to deal with the DACA program issues has received much criticism. Many believe that it is unethical leadership and goes contrary to the values of unconscious capitalism (Crosby & Bryson, 2017). Ethical leadership focuses on respect for values, beliefs, dignity, and rights of others (Shin, Sung, Choi, & Kim 2015). The assertion of the president on the beneficiaries of the DACA program and his constant threats to annul it are sentiments of a non-ethical leader. Also, president Trump has failed to consider the interest of the immigrants and the entire stakeholders when making decisions on the matter (Krieg, 2018). These sentiments made by the leader on revisiting the program and its scrapping off are personal views that do not involve the opinion of the entire stakeholders.
Conscious leadership and culture are lacking in the management strategy adopted by President Trump on the Daca issue. Contrary to embracing a consultative, transparent, authentic, caring and a holistic approach to dealing with the matter, the leader chose to make a coercive decision on the issue. Though the fate of the DACA program beneficiaries remains unknown, the current leadership style adopted by the presidency does not promise the attainment of a suitable outcome.

Reflection

Servant leadership is a leadership philosophy that emphasizes meeting the needs of the servants, power-sharing, and empowering the subjects. As a practitioner of servant leadership, I would have handled the DACA program issue more amicably. Contrary to using coercion to influence decisions, I would have adopted an expert power base that encourages the use of expertise to make good decisions. Also, the adoption of democratic leadership that fosters a participative role in decision-making would ensure that the decisions of all the stakeholders are taken into consideration. The democratic leadership style and exercising of expert power ensure that the principle of conscious capitalism is upheld. Further, my empathetic and persuasive nature would have also promoted transparency and a holistic approach when dealing with the issue in compliance with the conscious capitalism principle. In that case, a more suitable outcome that will give an opportunity for DREAMers to advance their career would have been attained.