Imagine being born a war-torn, violent, and crime ridden country, where people die every day fighting for their right to be free, or to protect themselves from indiscriminate violence. Now imagine your parents, who loved you so much they didn’t want you to know what war and death were like at such an early age, fled to a country that promises “Liberty and justice for all.” Now imagine growing up in that free country, enjoying basic freedoms and rights, living out your entire life in there, only to have someone say you have to leave because you as a person are “illegal”.
That’s what some young people and adults are facing right now. After living out most or all of their recallable memories here in the United States, a recent announcement from President Trump’s administration said that they would end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA for short, if Congress doesn’t find a more permanent solution.
Ever since being put in place under President Barack Obama, about 800,000 immigrants who were children when they arrived in the US illegally have received protections through the DACA program. These include halting of deportation and the capacity to work and go to school in the US legally.
Before diving deeper into who will be affected by DACA ending, why DACA is still controversial, and what’ll happen next, here’s a simple explanation of DACA:
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, DACA, is a program created by the Obama administration in 2012 which would allow young people who were brought into the US by their parents without documentation, to temporarily be spared from deportation and receive permission to get a job, go to school, and earn their driver’s licenses.
In order to be eligible for this program, these people, also known as “DREAMers”, had to be younger than 16 when they came into US, must have entered United States before June 15, 2007, had to be undocumented on June 15,2012 (DACA’s enactment date), have to be at least 15 to apply for DACA, having a clean criminal record, a high school graduate or GED, or had been discharged from the Coast Guard or US Armed Forces. This allows you to lawfully work in the US and get a driver’s license. In order to maintain under the protection from DACA, recipients must renew their license every 2 years.
There’s about 800,000 DACA recipients, or DREAMers, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Most of the recipients have arrived from Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala with several thousands more from Asia.
The term DREAMer comes from the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, originally introduced to Congress in 2001. After being stalled in Congress for some time, several others have tried to introduce several different versions of the DREAM Act. All of these would have provided a pathway for undocumented youth to legal citizen status. The closest the DREAM Act has come to becoming a law was in 2010, when it fell just short of 60 votes in Senate. In order to provide temporary relief from deportation and a chance to work legally for specific undocumented youth, the Obama administration created DACA on June 15,2012. Since Obama passed DACA under executive order, some said he overstepped his authority and that DACA was unconstitutional because it didn’t go through Congress before being passed.
Several people have debated over the constitutionality of DACA, but according to Eric Schneiderman, the current New York Attorney General, “No court has held (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) unconstitutional.” Eric Schneiderman, along with a group of 15 other attorney generals have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, arguing that they’re discriminating against Mexicans, who make up 78 percent of the DACA recipients. Since the beginning of his campaign, Trump “has fragrantly displayed an anti-Latino, particularly anti-Mexican discriminatory animus,” Schneiderman said on MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show.
While many experts on the topic continue to argue about the constitutionality of DACA, without a court ruling on it, we cannot be entirely sure on whether Obama over stepped his executive powers or not.
During an August 2016 campaign event, Trump said, “We will immediately terminate President Obama’s two illegal executive amnesties, in which he defied federal law and the constitution to give amnesty to approximately 5 million illegal immigrants.” Trump promised to end DACA as well as the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA).
Although Trump said during his campaigning days that he would immediately end DACA and DAPA, he has recently started to backtrack on that promise.
Trump has said several times before that DACA was something he found difficult to end. However, pressure from his supporters and threats from 10 conservative attorney generals pushed the Trump administration to leave DACA in the hands of Congress.
“We’re going to show great heart. DACA is a very, very difficult subject for me. I will tell you. To me, it’s one of the most difficult subjects I have,” Trump claimed at a press conference in February.
But you have some absolutely incredible kids — I would say mostly. They were brought here in such a way, It’s a very — it’s a very, very tough subject. We are going to deal with DACA with heart. I have to deal with a lot of politicians, don’t forget. And I have to convince them that what I’m saying is, is right. And I appreciate your understanding on that,” Trump said.
“But the DACA situation is a very, very difficult thing for me because you know, I love these kids,” Trump added. “I loved kids. I have kids and grandkids and I find it very, very hard doing what the law says exactly to do. ”
While the Trump administration has decided to rescind DACA and leave the DREAMers in the hands of Congress, it’s clear to say that Trump did not want to hurt the kids being helped by DACA.
We interviewed Sarah Ford, Spanish teacher at Blackhawk Middle School. While she is not directly affected by DACA, Mrs. Ford knows many people who are.
While Mrs. Ford doesn’t know as many people as she thought she did, she still has some very strong feelings about DACA and Trump. She believes that “Trump wants to end everything that Obama did that was good.” With Trump repealing Obamacare and rescinding DACA, Mrs. Ford feels strongly about her position.
When asked what she thinks would happen to those affected by DACA when their protections end, she answered, “Some will go back in the shadows, most will have to leave. It will change everyone’s lives.”
As we wait for Congress to decide on what to do with DACA, we can only hope that what they chose is in everyone’s best interests. While you can’t directly affect Congress’ decision on DACA, you can help those who are under DACA’s protection. Recently, the state of Rhode Island announced they would cover the $495 application fee for all eligible DACA recipients who can reapply before the program ends.
Gov. Gina Raimondo said in a statement, “We’re not going to allow $495 to stand in the way of our neighbors’ dreams.”
The Orange County Immigrant Youth United (OCIYU) is currently raising money to help 30 DACA recipients that are eligible for renewal. Try getting involved locally, many communities have held protests and march in support of DACA. Supporting DACA activists and staying involved with organizations will help also. There’s many things you could do to help those whose lives hangs in the balance.