On September 5th of 2017, President Trump issued a statement to end the DACA program. Here’s why you should care.
What is DACA?
DACA, also known as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, is a program set by executive order during the Obama administration in 2012. DACA protects thousands of people who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children. The DREAM Act (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) of the DACA program grants these undocumented immigrants to have a renewable two year period of deferred action from deportation, allowing them to receive an education and work within the United States.
Consequences to the End of DACA
Unless Congress acts to replace the program, these people would no longer be allowed to work in the United States. Currently, about 91% of DACA recipients are employed. Ending DACA would mean 30,000 people per month would lose their work permits. Removing hundreds of thousands of young immigrants from the American workforce would result in the loss of many workers and paychecks. In particular, California and Florida would be hit the hardest, due to their having the largest number of participants. Many of the DACA recipients are in the twenties during their peak earning years. These Individuals entered country as young children and subsequently built their life here. If anything, the result could be perfectly productive workers being forced to work illegally underground and contributing less to the U.S. system.
What Can You Do to Support the DACA-mented and the undocumented?
- Get Informed
- Learn more about the rights of undocumented or DACA-mented K-12 students here.
- Listen to undocumented and DACA-mented individuals.
- Participate in the conversation
- Vista, the Latinx group at Williams campus working actively to combat DACA, during their first general meeting, wrote letters and emailed government representatives across the country about the importance of keeping DACA.