Running head: Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, A New Opportunity

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals

Lela T. Whitener

North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University

Dec. 8, 2020
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Abstract

This paper is on DACA: a program that gives young people who were born in another country

but identify as Americans a way to gain legal residency. This program also aids in boosting the

country's economy while avoiding the unnecessary removal of the recipients. Immigration is a

major factor in the media today causing many to have differing opinions on what to do with

those who have been residing in the country and those trying to enter the country. Along with

speaking on how prevalent this issue is in the media.

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Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, A New Opportunity

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program didn’t exist until June 2012 under

the president at the time Barack Obama. First I am going to explain DACA and how it benefits

its recipients. Following I will speak on any controversy that is connected to the program

recently. Last I will analyze how prevalent the program has been in the media and how it pertains

to a prominent issue in America.

DACA stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, in which the Obama

administration chose to deploy DACA by Executive Branch memorandum—even though

Congress affirmatively rejected such a program in the normal legislative process on multiple

occasions (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, n.d.). This came to be after the Secretary of

Homeland Security Janet Napolitano issued on June 15, 2012, a memorandum entitled

“Exercising Prosecutorial Discretion concerning Individuals Who Came to the United States as

Children,” (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, n.d.). Those who were approved under the

act were known as “Dreamers”: was coined in 2001 to describe young immigrants who would

benefit from the passage of the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM)

Act, a bill offering a pathway to citizenship for young undocumented immigrants who were

brought to this country as young children by their parents. Today, “Dreamers” is used more

broadly to describe all young immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as kids and identify as

Americans in every sense of the word, but do not have legal status.

Since DACA was created as an immigration law the main purpose is to give people who

arrived in the U.S. as children and whose immigration status has remained illegal some kind of

safety net from deportation. To be eligible for the program, anyone under the age of 31 that
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arrived in the United States illegally while under the age of 16, must be physically present while

applying, and entered illegally before 2007 or entered illegally, and their visa has expired, is in

high school, or has graduated with a diploma or GED. Applicants are eligible for employment

authorization. The law provides that after the immigrant obtains DACA status, they are not

actively illegal, yet the immigrant also does not have legal status. It does not directly provide a

path to permanent citizenship (Sember, 2020). Research from Crouse (2018) showed that DACA

beneficiaries come from different regions and countries around the world. In the U.S., the top

five countries of origin for beneficiaries are Mexico (79.4%), El Salvador (3.7%), Guatemala

(2.6%), Honduras (2.3 %), and Peru (1.1%). In Michigan, the top country of origin for

DACA-eligible immigrants is Mexico.5 The majority (53%) of DACA beneficiaries across the

country are women, and two-thirds of them are 25 years of age or younger. These stats show how

much of an impact this program has had not only in America but for the nations of those who

were accepted.

Once a recipient's time expires or is about to expire if they want to continue in the

program they must renew their status. The DACA expiration date is on the I-797, Notice of

Action form that an applicant received when their DACA was approved. A tip for those applying

for a renewal is that they should submit their DACA renewal request no later than 120 days (4

months) before their expiration date. The USCIS is sometimes very slow when it comes to

granting DACA renewals. If you submit your request after the 120-day window, you could be at

risk of losing your job and other protections (United We Dream, 2020). DACA has given more

than 800,000 young people access to basic freedoms, including work permits, driver’s licenses,

affordable higher education, and, in certain states, professional licenses. A national study from

2017 revealed that 91% of DACA respondents are currently employed. Their average hourly
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wage is $17.46 an hour, up from $10.29 before receiving DACA. Forty-five percent of

respondents are currently in school and among those currently in school, 72% are pursuing a

bachelor’s degree or higher. Nearly 80% of respondents said they obtained driver's licenses,

which is also a public safety improvement for all people (What is DACA and Who are Dreamers,

n.d.). In correlation with the rise of employment rates, a 2016 study of DACA beneficiaries

found that DACA increased the likelihood of participants’ employment through expanded labor

force participation, while also decreasing the rate of unemployment for individuals (Crouse,

2018). In research from Haurwitz (2017) about 800,000 undocumented immigrants have

benefited from DACA, including 234,000 in Texas, second only to California's 425,000. Since its

inception, DACA has proven to be an effective strategy for boosting beneficiaries’ wages,

employment opportunities, and education. While there are several shortcomings to this policy,

DACA was a good first step in addressing our outdated immigration system (Crouse, 2018). 

DACA came to be under Obama’s administration during his presidency, but fear and

uncertainty began to rise about the continuation of DACA when the succeeding president was

announced. Throughout his campaign, Trump promised to undo most of the Obama-era laws

passed. In keeping his promise the Trump administration in September 2017 moved to terminate

DACA (What Is DACA and Who Are the Dreamers? 2020). Even though this program proved to

be beneficial to the economy, immigration was still a topic that the nation has been split on for

quite some time. On the day after the Administration announced its intention to end the Deferred

Action for Childhood Arrivals experts throughout San Diego were already voicing their

discontent and concern with the thousands of jobs that would be lost in San Diego as a result, as

well as the financial instability it would cause for hundreds of San Diego businesses (Zavala,

2017).
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The timing of Trump's decision was no coincidence: Texas Attorney General Ken

Paxton, along with Republican officials in nine other states, had threatened to sue the

administration if the program, commonly known as DACA, wasn't rescinded by Tuesday. "I

applaud President Trump for phasing out DACA," Paxton said. "As the Texas-led coalition

explained in our June letter, the Obama-era program went far beyond the executive branch's

legitimate authority (Haurwitz, 2017)." On the other hand, some of the national higher education

leaders reacted differently. Mary Sue Coleman, president of the Association of American

Universities and a former president of the University of Michigan, said she was "appalled by this

administration's disregard for the lives of thousands of young people brought to the United States

as children. American in every way except birthright, they are upstanding individuals who

contribute to their communities and our nation (Haurwitz, 2017)." Shortly after the DACA

program’s fifth anniversary on Sept. 5, 2017, the U.S. Attorney General announced that the

Justice Department would end the program over a six-month phasing out period. As of that date,

United States Immigration and Citizenship Services (USCIS) stopped accepting new DACA

applications. As of Oct. 5, 2017, the federal government is no longer accepting renewal

applications. Nearly 700,000 beneficiaries across the country will be affected by the termination

of this program (Crouse, 2018)

The Trump administration had many backing it on its decision to rescind DACA but, with

a 5-4 ruling on June 18, 2020, the Supreme Court blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to

end DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). The ruling maintains the program and

allows DACA recipients to renew membership, which offers them work authorization and

temporary protection from deportation. The ruling leaves open the possibility that the

Administration could still end DACA in the future if they give a proper justification (What Is
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DACA and Who Are the Dreamers? 2020). Despite the Supreme Court decision to reinstate the

DACA program, the Trump administration released a memo on July 28, 2020, that shortens the

renewal period from two (2) years to one (1) year.

The media has constantly been covering the status of whether or not DACA would

remain available. Major outlets like CNN, Fox News, NBC, and many other news stations

covered the constant change and updates on DACA. Social media has also been an outlet that has

informed people about what is happening with the DACA program. For example, during Trump's

presidency, he has consistently used Twitter as a source to tell the people how he feels or his

opinion. After his attempt to get rid of DACA was shut down he took to social media and

tweeted “We will be submitting enhanced papers shortly to properly fulfill the Supreme Court’s

ruling & request of yesterday,” Mr. Trump wrote (Shear & Cochrane, 2020). Since DACA has

made headlines there has been false information spread just like there is with the overall topic of

immigration. Rumors and biases from news stations have their impact on viewers.

In conclusion, DACA (Deferred Action for childhood arrivals) has many studies proving

it benefits the nation's economy. Through jobs and education, the program has allowed those

from around the world, and here in America that wasn’t before. Since DACA is in direct

correlation to immigration its status became prevalent in the media. Immigration not only affects

those dealing with deportation or those trying to find a better life but it also impacts those who

are already citizens.

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References

Crouse, V. (2018, September 10). The benefits of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals

(DACA) on immigrants in Michigan. MLPP.

https://mlpp.org/the-benefits-of-deferred-action-for-childhood-arrivals-daca-on-immigran
ts-in-michigan/

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). (2019, September 23). Department of

Homeland Security. https://www.dhs.gov/deferred-action-childhood-arrivals-daca

Haurwitz, R. (2017, September 7). College leaders urge quick action to fix DACA McRaven,

college leaders urge fix for DACA: McRaven: ’I and the UT System believe in our DACA
students. Proquest.
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=12711

Mandou, A. (2019, November 14). Defending DACA. ProQuest.

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Shear, M. D., & Cochrane, E. (2020, June 19). Trump Says Administration Will Try Again to End

DACA. The New York Times.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/19/us/politics/trump-daca.html

Sember, B. (2020, November 24). Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA): Application

Process. Legalzoom.Com.
https://www.legalzoom.com/articles/deferred-action-for-childhood-arrivals-daca-applicati
on-process

What is DACA and Who Are the Dreamers? (2020, June). Anti-Defamation League.

https://www.adl.org/education/resources/tools-and-strategies/table-talk/what-is-daca-and-
who-are-the-dreamers

Zavala, M. (2017, September 15). DACA Decisions Could Affect the Economy. Proquest.
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