Campaign Action
Imagine you’re a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient. Imagine you’ve persevered through school, despite your legal status and the lingering threat of other undocumented family members getting torn from you. Imagine you’re working hard and have enrolled in higher education. Imagine something that once seemed unreachable, now in your grasp thanks to this program and all your hard work. Now imagine that all getting torn away because of one cowardly move from Donald Trump:
A large nationwide survey conducted last month found that 45 percent of DACA recipients are currently in school, with 72 percent pursuing a bachelor’s degree or higher. The vast majority of the survey’s respondents said the DACA program has allowed them to “pursue educational opportunities” that were previously closed off to them. Now, some of these students may not be able to afford to continue their education.
Undocumented people also cannot receive most types of financial assistance to attend school. Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 limits federal financial aid to citizens and permanent residents (more colloquially known as green card holders). Most state financial aid packages are off limits for the same reasons. And although private scholarships are not governed by citizenship requirements, they come with their own set of qualifications that tend to shut out undocumented immigrants.
The DACA program, however, opened up more opportunities for students. Because DACA recipients are considered “lawfully present,” they become eligible for in-state tuition. They are also eligible to apply for some private scholarships.
“Those receiving DACA while still in high school described an immediate change in their motivation,” notes research from the Center for American Progress, “attending college and working in their dream fields had become a real option for them. Those who received DACA while in college also reported increased motivation, realizing that they would be able to pursue jobs in their desired fields after graduation. For these young people, the opportunities DACA has afforded them have resulted in a renewed hope, more concrete goals, and better performance at school and at work.”
But with DACA protections ending for some immigrant youth in as soon as six months, they’re facing not just the loss of work permits, but also the devastating loss of an education, self-worth, and years of steady dedication.
Earlier this year, nearly 600 college and university presidents called on the Trump administration to continue DACA, writing that “these young people … have grown up American—studying and learning in our public schools, celebrating our national holidays, becoming a part of our communities. They’ve made a lifetime of friends and memories here. This is the only home most of them can remember.”
But as Lee writes, in some parts of the nation, DACA’s end without any legislative relief from Congress means that some undocumented students stand to get shut out of public higher education altogether:
Both South Carolina and Alabama prohibit undocumented immigrants from enrolling in any public colleges whatsoever. The two states carve out an exception only for DACA recipients to attend certain post-secondary institutions. Similarly, Georgia State University and Augusta University said earlier this year they would begin accepting undocumented students who can verify their lawful presence (a legal term that does not equate legal status), which suggests only DACA recipients may qualify.
The repercussions of a DACA end stand to affect all regardless of legal status. In Chicago, fourth-year medical student and DACA recipient Manuel Bernal faces a stop to his future as an emergency room doctor if he loses his work permit:
“It’s the worst timing, really, because I’m at the end of my medical school career and ready to transition over to the next phase of my career. ... If there’s no resolution passed it would make it impossible to move on,” he said.
Bernal attends the Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. On Tuesday, the day Attorney General Jeff Sessions gave a speech announcing the end of the program, Bernal was working a shift at an emergency department.
“I would go to the bathroom and look at social media to see what kind of information I could potentially get, but otherwise I had patients to see and things to do so I couldn’t really dwell on that,” Bernal said. “On my drive home, that’s really when I finally had some silence to myself to start processing that and what it meant.”
“Nearly 100 DACA recipients are estimated to be in medical school around the country this year,” writes immigration reporter Elise Foley, “and for them ending the program would destroy their chances at a career in medicine in the U.S., because they would be unable to legally work and unable to receive loans”:
Bernal has less than a week until he has to begin applying for residency programs, after which he will start interviewing and eventually be matched this spring. He said he would have to drop out of the program if Congress doesn’t come up with some sort of solution by then that would allow him to work legally because his work permit is set to expire in March 2019, which would make him unable to complete residency.
Ideally Congress will act fast ― Bernal is nervous that he won’t even get interviews because DACA was rescinded.
“How do I let programs know that they should interview me even though there’s not a fix on the books yet?” he said.
Lee writes that Arizona school officials sent letters to the hundreds of DACA youth enrolled in the state’s public universities, “saying that the schools would support students within the confines of the law.” In Virginia, “the chancellor of the Virginia Community College System … noted that schools are awaiting guidance from the Office of the Attorney General of Virginia about how they can ‘support the individuals who seek opportunity with us.’”
Huron University has taken one of the boldest moves yet, offering $60,000 scholarships “to DACA recipients affected by the rescission.” The school is in Canada.