DACA Pros And Cons

Since the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program was established in 2012, nearly 800,000 young people who came to this country as children have been granted temporary protection from deportation and allowed to live, work, and contribute to the only country most of them have ever known (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, 2017). Over the past five years, 91% of DACA recipients have found gainful employment, and are currently working for companies across the country. The DACA memo delineated a set of criteria by which certain young people who were brought to the United States as young children, must meet several key criterias would be allowed to receive a temporary protection from deportation, for a period of two years, …show more content…
Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, a Republican, declared in his “10 reasons to reject the DREAM Act” that ‘this bill simply incentivizes and rewards more illegality’ for immigrants who practice ‘unacceptable lawlessness’ ” (Rivera 2013). Another argument is ethics. California Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, a Republican, argued that Governor Jerry Brown created a new entitlement that would cause tens of thousands of people to come over illegally by granting illegal immigrants the same access as state residents to financial aid at higher education public campuses, he stated this is morally wrong. On the opposite side of the spectrum, those who are in favor of the DREAM Act cite the social, economic, and cultural development of the United States. This is also shown in the op-ed published by the Washington Post, called “Dashing their Own Dream” by Dana MIlbank, a Pro-Trump activist, he states that one of the reasons this movement is weak, is due that democrats are weak and that many of their problems are caused because they are based on a “collection of one issue entities” (Milbank). This shows as well the different take and perspective of the different political parties and their out take in the DACA …show more content…
Two studies that were conducted on DACA students showed a variety of ways in which having this status has changed their lives. The National UnDACAmented Research Project was a national survey studying the impact that DACA had on educational, labor market, health and civic engagement outcomes of young adult immigrants. It was conducted on individuals approved through June 2013, making it significant because this was done just one year after the status was introduced. It showed that DACA students experienced a pronounced increase in economic opportunities in areas like getting new jobs (61% reported), opening first bank account (54% reported), and obtaining first credit card (38% reported) (Gonzalez and Terriquez, 2013). Having quantitative results are important, as are qualitative statistics that specifically look at the lives of these students through their stories and voices. The research showed that participants found that DACA also introduced unanticipated challenges including greater adult responsibilities, new precarious identity, and threat to wellbeing due to separation from family, exposure to traumatic events, discrimination and loss of social

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