Throughout the past few weeks, the Trump Administration has announced that they are rescinding the DACA program in the next six months if Congress is unable to come up with a more permanent solution. Here are five things you should know about the DACA program and what it could mean for the everyday American.
1. What is DACA?
DACA stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which means that parents are able to bring their children at a very young age to the United States of America to have a chance at a better life. Most parents are fleeing violence or cartels in their homeland and are just looking to give their kids a better life in this country.
2. Who is eligible for DACA?
Any person has entered the US before their 16th birthday was able to apply for DACA. The applicant must have resided in the States from June 2007 until the present day, and be physically present in the US while filing for DACA. The applicant must also be currently enrolled in school, have graduated high school or have obtained their GED.
3. How it affects the economy?
Some 800,000 Dreamers are in this country at this very second working and contributing to the economy. They pay taxes, they buy things at the store, they fill up their cars, and they even pay college tuition like some of us. To take all of those people away seems irresponsible and like many industries will just simply collapse. Dreamers are in the same age range as me, therefore they most likely work in restaurants, cleaning, and any other menial job that keeps America running.
4. Is DACA a path to citizenship?
DACA in itself means that the applicant cannot be deported, this status by no means grants the applicant any kind of citizenship. DACA is only a temporary solution to a permanent problem of kids being brought into the US and being out of status. Applicants actually have to reapply every two years to renew their work permits. Dreamers have the opportunity to legally work in the US for the period that they are granted DACA, which means they pay taxes and contribute to the American economy.
5. How does President Trump’s repeal of DACA affect Dreamers?
President Trump, with help from his team, chose to phase out DACA. Many people on his team have referred to DACA as unconstitutional and as a way for immigrants to take away the jobs of those born in America. There have also been claims from the Trump administration that DACA recipients are lawbreakers, which actually would make the participant ineligible for DACA since those that apply cannot be granted the status if they have committed a crime.
What most do not understand is that this type of xenophobic, hateful, and just plain wrong remarks on a group of people are hurting this country. By taking away the ability for some 800,000 kids to work it actually puts gaps into the economy. If all of these human beings are sent back to “their country” it would actually do more harm than good. These kids were taken out of their home before 2007, which fun fact was 10 years ago. Say that when they came to this country they were eight years old, which is the same age I was when I came to America, I am now twenty-two years old, quite possibly the same age that some of these Dreamers are. I consider this country to be my home, I consider this country to be the place in which I want to be until the day I die. I consider myself to be an American. If in the next three months I would be sent back to Venezuela, a place in which I do not know the first thing about, I would be devastated. I would fight like hell to have the ability to come back here, but since I am not a Noble Prize Winner, an Olympic medalist, or any other ridiculous thing that is now part of the screening process, I would be out of luck.