Campaign Action
Wednesday marks six years since undocumented immigrant youth were first able to submit their Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) applications, and results from a new survey show that after enrolling, young people have been able to access the tools they’ve needed to thrive, support their families, and more fully contribute to the only country they’ve ever known as home.
Yet, as successful as it’s been, DACA remains under threat. While Donald Trump rescinded the program last fall, numerous courts have ordered him to partially revive it and allow current and former beneficiaries to renew their protections. Republicans have now gone to an anti-immigrant judge in Texas—dubbed “the Joe Arpaio of the federal judiciary”—in hopes he can kill it once and for all. The results would uproot the lives and homes of many.
Data shows that “work authorization has been critical in helping DACA recipients participate more fully in the U.S. labor force,” with nearly 90 percent of survey respondents saying they’re currently employed. With the earnings from their jobs and businesses—“DACA recipients are outpacing the general population in terms of business creation”—immigrant youth have been able to support their U.S. citizen kids and families.
62 percent said they were able to buy a car after enrolling, with the survey also showing “that 14 percent of respondents purchased their first home after receiving DACA. Among respondents 25 years and older, this share increases to 20 percent.” Undocumented immigrants already pay taxes, and higher wages from better and more secure jobs mean higher tax revenues for local communities and states. Of course, DACA offers more than a work permit and driver’s license—it also offers some much-needed stability and peace of mind.
Following enrollment and securing protection from deportation, 64 percent of respondents said that they were “no longer afraid of my immigration status,” and felt “more like I belong in the U.S.” Others said that enrolling in DACA made them “become more politically active,” while “52 percent reported that they have become more involved in their communities.” Yet, “the legal and political uncertainty surrounding DACA is weighing heavily on its recipients.”
”Among recipients with children,” the researchers say, “76 percent reported that they think about ‘being separated from [their] children because of deportation’ at least once a day, and 74 percent think about ‘not being able to see [their] children grow up because of deportation’ at least once a day.” As their own protections remain at risk, 64 percent also “reported that they think about a family member being deported at least once a day.”
Many DACA recipients have U.S. citizen siblings, meaning their undocumented parents could have been eligible for protections under former President Obama’s 2014 immigration action, but this program was blocked by the same Texas judge who could now stomp on their own dreams. Facing this very real possibility, immigrant rights advocates have been calling on DACA beneficiaries who have status expiring by 2020 to renew their protections as soon as possible.
"The risk is that they might stop renewals as soon as mid-August," said Vanessa Moreno of the Council of Mexican Federations of Mexico (COFEM). "That's why we're urging folks to renew right now." And, it’s all the more important that among the many of us who care about DACA recipients and who can vote, to vote and finally sweep in a Congress that will permanently protect these young Americans-in-waiting once and for all.
“These findings could not paint a clearer picture,” the researchers note, “DACA has been unreservedly good for recipients, the U.S. economy, and society at large. Ending DACA would not only be cruel and counterproductive, but it would also roll back the gains that DACA recipients have made, as many are hitting their stride in their lives and careers.”