The Democrats have put all their immigration eggs in the basket of the Dreamers, feeling like they’ve found a position supported by the majority of voters. And to a certain extent, they’re correct. They’ve even gotten some Republicans to go along with a DACA package, provided some concessions to border security needs are made at the same time. But in the illegal alien community, everything isn’t quite so rosy. There are far more illegals out there who didn’t qualify for DACA than those who did, and they’re feeling left out.

The L.A. Times features one such individual this week, and he apparently speaks for many more. Sam Paredes entered the country illegally from Mexico more than thirty years ago and has always been hoping there might be some sort of program to allow him to attain citizenship, even though he’s been working here illegally all that time. But that hasn’t worked out since all the attention is focused on the DACA recipients and he was far too old to qualify for the program.

The “DACA kids,” as Sam calls them, clearly do have a certain sense of entitlement about them. Not having to fear the arrival of ICE agents at their door (at least until next month, anyway), they’ve been on television, participating in marches and begin feted by cable news outlets as the next great hope for America. Sam is obviously correct in the other part of his assessment because you rarely hear any of them saying much about the other ten million or so illegals who weren’t lucky enough to join in on the DACA bonanza. This has led to a split in that community.

Arthur Schaper at Townhall finds the infighting on the left to be endlessly fascinating and revealing of some deeper problems in their coalition.

Arthur makes several fair points, but I think we’re once again missing out on the larger divide which has existed for some time. This current food fight is between two different groups of illegal aliens. The real dispute worth noting is the chasm between immigrants who came to this country legally and those who ignored the rules and snuck in but are now being offered a free pass. Making it through the naturalization process isn’t easy. It was never supposed to be easy. But the rewards can be immense.

How do you suppose some of these legal immigrants who spent years and considerable amounts of money on legal fees feel about the Dreamers being given a pathway to citizenship? Perhaps even more to the point, do you think they’re feeling all that charitable toward those who illegally entered the country as adults? If they put in the time and effort to do it the right way, why should these illegal aliens be getting a pass?