Dreamers Update

What’s the issue? During his campaign, Trump promised to “immediately terminate” the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. However, as president Trump has shown more openness to the plight of the 800,000 or so young people who are protected by DACA. To hold him to his campaign promise, 11 stated attorney generals threatened to bring a court case against DACA if Trump had not ended the program by September 5th (tomorrow). As a result, Trump is considering ending DACA with a six-month delay, and urging Congress to pass a permanent legislative solution within that timeframe.

Why do I care? DACA was created as an executive order by Barack Obama, meant to provide a legal means to work and study for young people who were brought into the United States before they turned 16 and had clean criminal records. I have already written about why I think DACA is important in a previous blog, but suffice to say that many of the young people protected by DACA don’t remember any home but the United States and are eager to fully participate in life here. Not only would it be cruel to deport them to a country they barely know, but ending DACA would remove approximately 685,000 workers from the economy, resulting in $460.3 billion lost to the economy over the next decade. Giving DACA recipients (also called Dreamers) a way to stay in the United States is also widely popular among US voters, including Republicans.

However, it is unlikely that DACA would survive a court case against it. A similar provision, DAPA, was created as an offshoot of DACA to protect the parents of US citizens, but it was struck down in court before going into effect, and Trump formerly ended the program last month. Since DACA was created in the same way, it would almost certainly face the same fate in court. So, it will likely fall to Congress to try to legislate a solution.

House Republicans have already introduced legislation that would provide a permanent path to citizenship for Dreamers, the Recognizing America’s Children Act. The law would require Dreamers to show proof of enrollment in higher education or the military or proof of employment for five years. After that, if the Dreamer keeps a clean criminal record, he or she can apply for permanent resident status and eventually citizenship. A similar bill, Dream Act of 2017 (similar to the original Dream Act of 2001) has also been introduced with bipartisan support in the Senate. It is a demanding model for Dreamers, but it is a path forward that can legally and permanently enable Dreamers to participate in all facets of American life.

What to do if you care too:

1. Call your representatives and ask them to support H.R. 1468- Recognizing America’s Children Act and S. 1615- Dream Act of 2017– ask your senator to co-sponsor the Dream Act.
2. Sign this petition asking members of Congress to support the Dream Act.
3. Urge the nine attorney generals still threatening to push forward with the lawsuit against DACA to drop it. You can use these pre-written tweets or call them at their offices on Tuesday morning:                                                                                               Ken Paxton (TX): 512-463-2100
   Steve Marshall (AL): 334-242-7300
   Leslie Rutledge (AR): 501-682-2007
   Lawrence Wasden (ID): 208-334-2400
   Derek Schmidt (KS): 785-296-2215
   Jeff Landry (LA): 225-326-6079
   Doug Peterson (NE): 402-471-2683
   Alan Wilson (SC): 803-734-3970
   Patrick Morrisey (WV): 304-558-2021
4. Share stories about DACA recipients who are making a positive impact in your community using the hashtag #DefendDACA.
5. Donate to United We Dream, an immigrant youth-led immigration rights organization that also has resources for anyone facing deportation.
6. If you are in Washington DC, attend a rally at the White House to support DACA at noon on September 5th. If you aren’t find an event supporting DACA near you here.
7. For more information on what you can do, visit http://defenddaca.com/ for up-to-date information.

Cover photo by Damian Bariexca on Flickr.