This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at NYU chapter.
1. What does it stand for?
- Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, more commonly called DACA.
2. What is it’s purpose?
- Under DACA, specific people who meet the criteria and entered the United States as minors and have stayed illegally would receive a two year grace period of deferred action from deportation. During that time they would be eligible for a work permit.
3. What are their requirements?
One must…
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have a clean criminal record and a clean background check
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have received/receiving some sort of education (whether that be current enrollment, a high school diploma, a GED or an honorable discharge in the case of a military veteran
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be at least 15 years old and born after June 16, 1981
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not have lawful immigration status
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have lived continuously in the United States since June 15, 2007.
DISCLAIMER: Meeting all of the requirements does not guarantee acceptance into the program.
4. When was the program created?
- DACA was enacted on June 15th, 2012 by former President Barack Obama on the thirtieth anniversary of a supreme court case that banned public schools from being able to charge illegal immigrant children tuition. Two months later, on August 15, 2012, the program began applications.
5. What are the benefits?
- Under DACA, members can get a driver’s license, get a social security number, get jobs that provide healthy care and apply for a credit card, along with many other intangible benefits like being able to volunteer and give back to their communities.
6. What is the DREAM Act?
- The DREAM Act, or the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, if passed, would allow for alien minors who qualified under already agreed upon conditions to have permanent residency in the United States. The bill was first brought to the senate floor in August, 2001, and while there have been several other versions of the bill since then it has yet to pass, but its goals are similar to those of DACA
7. How many people does DACA eff
- As of 2017, there are approximately 800,000 people who fall under the category of Dreamer. (Not to mention the innumerable amount of people who have Dreamers in their lives that they love and support)
8. What is DACA’s future?
- It has been said that the Trump administration wants to dismantle the program with as little disruption as possible, but as of right now most DACA protections are in place. If Congress makes no move against the cancellation of the program, then by 2018 nearly 300,000 would lose their status and be at risk for deportation, with another 320,000 to follow throughout 2019.
9. Where can I find out more?
- Go to unitedwedream.org for more information