DACA update to phase out Dreamers program

With a new president comes change. Shifts in administration are often accompanied with legislative overhaul, especially if there is a change in the majority party. Since taking office in January, President Donald Trump has made his fair share of changes, yet few are more controversial than the updates made to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, also known as DACA.

Named “President Barack Obama’s signature policy” by CNN, DACA has given protection to undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children, individuals often referred to as Dreamers. Similar immigration policies, namely the DREAM Act have been debated in Congress since 2001, according to the Georgetown Law Library, but failed to drum up enough bipartisan support to pass both houses. The current DACA program was formed via executive order by President Obama in 2012. Based on the Obama administration’s version of the act, as long as applicants arrived in the US before age 16 and have lived here since June 2007, they are eligible. Under DACA, Dreamers are allowed to defer deportation and legally reside in the country for two years, then apply for renewal. The program doesn’t provide applicants for Dreamers to become US citizens or permanent residents; it just protects them from immediate deportation. Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras are the biggest countries of origin among applicants, in that order.

Since its signing, DACA has received its share of criticism, especially from those opposed to immigration reform. Some claim, according to the University of Iowa Journal of Gender, Race, and Justice, that since Dreamers are inherently deportable, DACA only puts a “short-term Band-Aid on the larger immigration problem.”

In September of this year, President Trump announced the White House is no longer backing DACA. Protections remain in effect, for now. However, new DACA applications are not being accepted, and renewals are only being accepted through October. Permits begin to expire March 6, 2018 and as many as 983 undocumented people could lose protection every day for two years.

The power rests with Congress now. It is currently unclear whether or not there is enough support in Congress to support even a conservative version of DACA. Still, there is always hope with these things. Even as high school students, we can get involved with local organizations and events that support Dreamers, and can always contact our representative to make sure our voices are heard.