In November, a trio of House Democrats, fearing immigration strong-arming by President-elect Donald Trump, pleaded with the White House to pardon three-quarters of a million young illegals to whom Barack Obama had allotted amnesty on unconstitutional grounds. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program provided sanctuary under Obama, but it also forced its benefactors to hand over personal data that Democrats fear the incoming administration will use to start sending them packing.

A blanket pardon, Democrats muse, would at least increase the odds of more concretely safeguarding Obama’s amnesty diktat. Strangely, the same White House that exploited executive privilege with DACA now says — this time correctly — that pardons for non-citizens exceed Obama’s authority.

Undeterred, this week a much larger faction of congressional Democrats pushed again for blanket clemency. “[W]e reiterate our request for you to use your Constitutional authority to provide pardons for civil immigration violations,” reads the letter co-signed by some five dozen lawmakers. As John Sexton notes, “[T]he new letter argues that Democrats aren’t asking Obama to create legal status for ‘Dreamers,’ only to pardon the civil offense of illegal entry for which they could be deported.”

But why? Trump is, as best, fluid on the matter. “We’re going to work something out that’s going to make people happy and proud,” Trump pledged this week. “They got brought here at a very young age, they’ve worked here, they’ve gone to school here. Some were good students. Some have wonderful jobs. And they’re in never-never land because they don’t know what’s going to happen.” That doesn’t sound like someone who’s fixing to load these kids onto buses headed for Mexico.

What Democrats are doing here is what they always do — deploying scare tactics. And what Trump appears to be doing is extending an olive branch by offering to compromise. As Sexton concludes, “The real appeal of the pardon action to Democrats is that it cannot be undone by President Trump. But there is good reason to wonder if the ‘Dreamers’ are really in any danger from Trump’s deportation force.” Only time will tell, but if Democrats continue this charade, it only proves they aren’t interested in coming together on a bi-partisan solution. That’ll be shocking, we know.