The Children of DACA
Chair falling on the Maria Carrillo baseball field (William Winkleman / The Puma Prensa)
By Miguel Ramirez, staff writer
Immigration throughout the history of the United States has been a fundamental part of the development of this country. The United States is arguably built on the foundations of immigration, with the Europeans who took the land from Native Americans, immigrating from Europe for a promise of a better life. The immigration that has made America into what it is today is the same thing that many Americans directly oppress to this day. In the United States, there are approximately 8 million undocumented immigrants, many of whom are struggling to make it through the ineffective system immigrants must go through to attain citizenship. To combat this,in 2015,the Obama administration initiated The American Dream Act In order to give a smoother path towards citizenship for those immigrant families.
The American Dream Act, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), was introduced on June 15, 2015 by the Obama administration. It allowed for those who entered the United States as children, that meet several guidelines like coming to the US before the age of 16, having no felonies, and being currently enrolled in school, to be able to request consideration for deferred action for a two year period. There was also the additional benefit of being able to request work authorization, although these laws did not provide a lawful status. According to the U.S Citizenship and Immigration Services, “deferred action is an exercise of prosecutorial discretion to defer removal action against an individual for a certain period of time” (US Citizenship and Immigration Center).
DACA has helped many individuals gain legal citizenship in the United States, so much so it has led to the nicknames of “The Children of DACA” and “The Dreamers.” The effects of DACA are proudly demonstrated with these nicknames with how it has become a crucial part of their identity for those able to apply for it; DACA isn't just a policy but a crucial part of people's lives and identities.Since 2012, DACA has protected over 835,000 young people from deportation and has helped them obtain work authorization, allowing them to attend school, find better work opportunities, and contribute and give back to their communities. As of September 2024, there are still 538,000 active recipients of DACA.
The immigration system in the US is beyond flawed. It is made to provide opportunities only to those who can afford it and it monopolizes the struggles of poor Latin American families by having illegal workers toil in dangerous conditions with meager paychecks. They are not allowed to revolt or unionize in any way, due to our ineffective immigration system not allowing for quick integration to the US, forcing the families to come illegally with the employers denying them their fundamental working rights.
It is a common misconception that undocumented laborers have no rights. In fact, under the Department of Labor, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, The National Labor Relations Board, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, workers–no matter their status of citizenship or immigration–are entitled to minimum wage, overtime, breaks, and are protected under health, safety, and anti-discrimination laws. Yet, still these workers are discriminated against and denied their fundamental rights. According to the National Immigration Law Center, over 30% “of undocumented immigrants… work in underpaid sectors such as agriculture and domestic work” and are twice as likely to be “paid less than minimum wage… [significantly less] than their U.S.-born counterparts in the same jobs.” According to the University of Chicago, “76 percent [of undocumented workers] experience wage theft,” frequently receiving little-to-no “breaks and no overtime pay” (National Immigration Law Center).
Lawmakers since have tried to attack and restrict the rights of undocumented workers. For example, The Reform and Control Act “amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to make it unlawful for a person or other entity to hire, recruit or refer to a fee or U.S. employment of any alien,” yet does not stop the employment of illegal migrants from independent contractors (Congress.Gov). This specific change allows for abuse towards immigrant working conditions to be more personal and it allows employers to hold the threat of deportation over their workers heads. The law effectively protected the fame and reputation of private contractors and companies at the expense of real people trying to make a living. Additionally with a lack of knowledge and education on the matter the abuse often goes unreported; those who do try and speak out are subject to fear as a sort of great silence with the threat of deportation being used to loom over their heads and keep them complacent.
DACA has also faced many attacks from people in an attempt to shut it down. “On Sept. 13, 2023, the The District Court for the Southern District of Texas issued a decision finding the DACA Final Rule unlawful,” essentially finding DACA, especially the clause about allowing working authorization, “unjustified and unlawful” (Justice Action Center). It was issued by Judge Hanen, a Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, who was nominated by former president George Bush; to say he has had a bone to pick with undocumented immigrants is an understatement. In 2013, he condemned The Department of Homeland Security for their policy of reuniting separated children with their families. He historically has had a bigoted opinion against DACA and has frequently attacked the act; in 2015, he granted the State of Texas a motion barring the Obama administration from carrying out the "Deferred Action of Parents Act.” The case reached the Supreme Court, where a 4-4 stalemate kept the lower court's ruling in place blocking the program from taking place. The Deferred Action of Parents Act, or DAPA, would have allowed for temporary deportation relief for undocumented parents of United States citizens and lawful permanent residents. Due to the court's ruling, this action has since blocked more people from entering the country legally. A few years later, the Trump Administration officially rescinded the act, further cementing the ruling.
Later, in 2021, the same judge would attack DACA, declaring it to be unconstitutional and provisionally blocking approvals of all new applications nationwide while allowing the receipt of said new applications. Although the ruling did not instantly cancel the protection of existing receipts, it significantly slowed down the process through its restrictions. He repeated this action once again in 2023, stating how DACA was unlawful and further extended the ongoing injunction preventing the government from processing new DACA applications.
While DACA hasn't been completely overturned, it always has and is currently facing opposition. This comes at a cost of millions of families and their livelihoods. According to the Coalition of the American Dream, “nearly 1 million U.S. citizen family members, including more than 110,000 spouses and some 300,000 children of DACA recipients, would face separation from a DACA loved one” and “an estimated 130,000 U.S. citizen children would be pushed into poverty” (Center for American Progress). The cost of losing DACA is the cost of separating families. It is tearing them apart and pushing minorities into poverty, creating a working class that is unable to speak out against corporate mistreatment, and making it impossible to be able to establish a strong community due to the continued destabilization. The destruction of the act will both destabilize communities and separate families in order to fund corporate ventures.
Losing DACA would be an economic disaster, up to “$648 billion in future economic losses are predicted,” with state governments losing “as much as $150 billion in future revenue.” Over 350,000 workers will also be lost from this; with the dismantling of DACA we risk losing families, but also economic ties, sending ripple effects all over the county, ruining the funding of the states and crippling the workforce (Center for American Progress).
DACA has provided many working opportunities to immigrants and it has paved the way for the American dream of immigrants. Without it, we deny the American dream to come to this country, work hard, and prosper. To reject DACA is to pull the ladder of opportunity up from those trying to work hard. The only benefactors of a non DACA society are those who want to deny workers rights and exploit the working class. DACA is more than just a policy, it is a window of promise and an avenue towards a more united society.