Are DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) and the DREAM Act Good for America?
Pro 1
DACA and the DREAM Act are good for the US economy.
The Center for American Progress stated, “DACA has been unreservedly good for the U.S. economy” and that DACA recipients will “contribute $460.3 billion to the U.S. gross domestic product [GDP] over the next decade—economic growth that would be lost were DACA to be eliminated.” California, which has the most DACA recipients of any state, could see a $11.6 billion decline in GDP if DACA were ended. Texas, which had the second largest DACA population, stood to lose $6.3 billion.
If the Dream Act were passed, it would add $22.7 billion annually to the US GDP, and up to $400 billion over the next decade. Benjamin Harris, MBA, former Chief Economist and Economic Advisor to Vice President Biden, stated: “Individuals eligible for the DACA program tend to be higher-skilled than their ineligible counterparts, simply because the typical DACA-eligible immigrant arrived in the America at age six and was educated in the U.S. Put differently, sending DACA participants back to their home countries would be a waste of billions in human capital already invested in the young immigrants.”
Pro 2
Deporting Dreamers is inhumane and cruel.
Arriving at a median age of six years old, many Dreamers do not remember life in their birth countries, have not met family members in those countries, and do not speak the native language fluently. President Obama, responding to President Trump’s plan to end DACA, stated, “To target these young people is wrong… It is self-defeating – because they want to start new businesses, staff our labs, serve in our military, and otherwise contribute to the country we love. And it is cruel. What if our kid’s science teacher, or our friendly neighbor turns out to be a Dreamer? Where are we supposed to send her? To a country she doesn’t know or remember, with a language she may not even speak?”
Many DACA recipients are well-integrated into families, communities, schools, and workplaces throughout the country. Thiru Vignarajah, JD, former Deputy Attorney of Maryland, stated, “to deport immigrants raised in America since they were children for the supposed sins of their parents is the definition of cruel and unusual punishment — expelling a person to a country they do not know because of a decision they did not make is as spiteful as it is bizarre.”
Pro 3
DACA recipients are vital members of the American workforce and society.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) said that 900 DACA recipients were serving in the US military and 20,000 were schoolteachers, including 190 Dreamers in the Teach for America program. The Association of American Medical Colleges said in October 2019 that the US health care system would be caught unprepared to fill the void left by deported Dreamers.
In Mar. 2020, lawyers for Dreamers seeking to uphold the program in the Supreme Court wrote, “Healthcare providers on the frontlines of our nation’s fight against COVID-19 rely significantly upon DACA recipients to perform essential work. Approximately 27,000 DACA recipients are healthcare workers—including nurses, dentists, pharmacists, physician assistants, home health aides, technicians, and other staff—and nearly 200 are medical students, residents, and physicians.”
Con 1
DACA and the Dream Act only encourage more illegal immigration.
Congressman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) said that DACA “encouraged more illegal immigration and contributed to the surge of unaccompanied minors and families seeking to enter the U.S. illegally.” According to Karl Eschbach, PhD, DACA will increase the undocumented population because those who don’t qualify for DACA will stay in the hopes of qualifying eventually, and more people will immigrate assuming coverage by DACA or a similar program.
Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) stated, “The Dream Act will only encourage more illegal immigration. One only needs to look at history to see how amnesty has played out in the past. The 1986 amnesty legislation legalized about three million illegal immigrants. But rather than put an end to illegal immigration, the amnesty only encouraged more.” The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA) included the legalization of about three million undocumented immigrants. Following the act’s implementation, between 1990 and 2007, the population of unauthorized immigrants in the United States shot up to 500,000 per year, peaking at 12.2 million.
Con 2
Amnesty should not be given to law breakers.
A country fairly enforcing its own laws is not cruel.David Benkoff, MA, Senior Policy Analyst at The Daily Caller noted that Dreamers are “victims of their parents… [and] it’s stunningly callous and cruel that they would knowingly subject their own children to such risks.” Dreamers have already broken the law by crossing the border illegally and remaining in the country without documentation.The Center for Immigration Studies stated that many Dreamers also commit work-related crimes such as Social Security fraud, forgery, perjury on I-9 employment forms, and falsification of ID cards. Since 2012, 1,500 Dreamers have lost their DACA status because of gang involvement or other criminal activity. Dreamers are only disqualified if they are convicted of a crime, which according to Ronald W. Mortensen, PhD, means “Dreamer gang-bangers, Dreamer identity thieves, Dreamer sexual predators, Dreamers who haven’t paid income taxes, and Dreamers committing a wide range of other crimes all qualify for DACA status as long as they haven’t been convicted of their crimes.”
Con 3
DACA sets a bad precedent for letting presidents circumvent the legislative branch.
President Trump noted in his announcement to rescind DACA that President Obama knew he shouldn’t make immigration policy unilaterally, “and yet that is exactly what he did, making an end-run around Congress and violating the core tenets that sustain our Republic.” US Presidents shouldn’t be able to set legislative policy by executive orders; rather they should seek approval from Congress in accordance with the Constitution.Elizabeth Murrill, JD, Solicitor General of Louisiana, said, “No matter one’s views on the policy principles motivating DACA, we should all be able to agree that the executive cannot legislate by fiat… The core of DACA’s substantive unlawfulness is its grant of “lawful presence” to hundreds of thousands of aliens whom Congress has declared to be unlawfully present.”
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Protestors against DACA |
What Are DACA and the Dream Act?
The DREAM Act would have implemented similar policies as DACA via legislation instead of a presidential memo. Many versions of the DREAM Act have been introduced by both parties and have failed to pass. An effort was introduced by Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) on July 20, 2017. In order to qualify for DACA, the undocumented immigrants are required to meet certain criteria:
Enrollment in the program requires renewal every two years. Who Are Dreamers? California is home to the most DACA recipients (186,120), including 81,180 who live in the Los Angeles metro area. Texas has the second-most DREAMers (108,730), followed by Illinois (34,330). The average Dreamer is 21 to 25 years old (37.7%), a woman (53%), and not married (76.1%). A 2019 Marquette Law School poll found that 53% of US adults opposed ending DACA while 37% were in favor of terminating the program. A CNN poll in 2018 found that 84% of respondents believed DACA should continue, allowing Dreamers to remain in the country; 11% thought the program should be stopped and Dreamers should be subject to deportation; and 5% had no opinion. |
Undocumented immigrant boys assemble for medical screenings at a Nogales processing center
Source: Dara Lind, “14 Facts That Help Explain America’s Child-Migrant Crisis,” vox.com, July 29, 2014 |
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