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The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) is an American immigration policy created in 2012 under President Barack Obama that gives young undocumented immigrants protection from deportation. The bill also grants the immigrants a work permit and expires after two years. The work permit is can be renewed. Those protected under DACA are known as “ DREAMers,” a term that came from the proposed Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act of 2001, which offered undocumented immigrants legal status in return for attending college or joining the military. Despite many attempts, the DREAM Act has never become law. Most DREAMers come from South America, and many of the larger numbers live in California, Texas, Florida, and New York, and they range in age from 15 to 36.
This program has helped many undocumented immigrants avoid deportation, but President Donald Trump has ordered an end to to this program, suggesting that some of the 800,000 young adults brought as to the U.S. illegally as children will be eligible for deportation. The Trump administration could end or greatly limit the DACA program to defer deportations.
Ever since President Trump has mentioned ending the program in September, he has been holding it off, giving Congress six months to come up with a legislative fix before the government stops renewing permits for people already covered by the program. President Trump has spent months not knowing what to do with DACA, but he expresses sympathy for the people protected by the program, saying, “ I think the DREAMers are terrific.”
The President is up against some opposition within his own party, though. According to the Constitution Center, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, “notified the Justice Department that they would amend a suit against the administration if it didn’t change the 2012 program by September 5, 2017.” Republican Representative Paul Gosar of Arizona told NPR and USA Today that the United States needed to “restore the rule of law” by repealing DACA. Both Texas and Arizona have DACA recipients in the tens and hundreds of thousands, respectively. According to USA Today College, Texas has the second highest number of DACA beneficiaries in the United States. At the same time, Republican Wisconsin Senator and Majority Leader Paul Ryan has urged the President to keep DACA in place.
The disputes have been going on for months, and the administration is still having a hard time coming to an agreement on what to do with it. Many do feel sympathy for the people under this program because they feel the DREAMers have done nothing wrong. DREAMers are people who are working towards having a better life, even giving back to their parents who sacrificed everything by leaving their country behind and moving to America. The program has helped many young people accomplish their goals by getting an education, which many immigrants thought they could never have, leading many people to believe there is no need to remove or change DACA if the program has positive outcomes by helping people.
USA Today reports 10,000 DACA recipients graduate from college annually, but the number could be as higher if DACA is allowed to stay. The uncertainty of not knowing if DACA will be removed worries many immigrants because this will affect them in the long run. Hopefully, the Trump administration comes to an agreement that will help the DREAMers along the way instead of taking this program that has helped for them for years.
