@AmericasVoiceAmerican Governments This issue has always been a very popular topic to discuss, the topic in question being the Deferred Action Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA for short. The program defers deportation proceedings for two years for individuals who qualify; it also gives those who are approved work authorization to stay in the US temporarily. The program was created by then president Barack Obama on June 15, 2012. To be eligible for DACA the applicant must be between the ages of 15 and 31 as of June 15, 2012, under the age of 16 when entered the united states, lived in the US continuously sine June 15, 2007, present in the US on June 15, 2012 and at the time of applying, in school graduated or have completed high school or honorably discharged from the military, and lastly not convicted of a felony a significant misdemeanor or three or more other misdemeanors. DACA is neither an official legal status nor pathway to citizenship but it does allow them to be “lawfully present” without being threatened of deportation. According to USCIS as of September there were 689,800 DACA recipients. There are roughly 1.3 million people who meet the criteria and could have applied. A lot of the DACA accepters are heavily concentrated in California with 28 percent and Texas with 16 percent.
This topic for the most part has two sides, those who are directly affected by the program and those who are against it. Those affected by the program as stated earlier are undocumented immigrants who where not born here in the US but have spent the majority of their lives here and really the only home they know. The other side would be those against the program that disagree that those undocumented immigrants should be allowed to stay in the US for various reasons. Both sides have stated claims on why they believe their point of view is the correct one. For the DACA recipients their argument for the program would be that since they where brought into the country at such a young age they have more claim to the US being their home then the country they left and cant even remember sometimes. If the program would to be dissolved it would cause drastic changes to those who lives depend on the programs existence. The other perspective is people disagreeing and saying the DACA program is not worth keeping and would be just be better getting ride of it completing. Thus in their idea would get rid of all the undocumented immigrants more drastically deporting them back to their native country. It really just comes down to the differences’ each side has from the other. Both sides have valid reasoning for the cause to either support the program or to get rid of it entirely. Immigration has always been one of the top issues to discuss in the country especially during elections. Ever since the creation of DACA, there has been speculation on whether it is a good idea to keep it or not. Since president Trump has been in office he has been trying his hardest to get rid of DACA and keeping other immigrants from coming into the US. He has so far been able to rescind the program so they are only accepting renewals and no longer accepting new applications. The topic of immigrations was discussed often prior to the midterm elections. Some democrats have stated that Trumps actions of separating parents from children due to deportation have helped solidified more votes for a change. Since then there has been a court ruling that has directed the White house to fully reinstate DACA. The decision came from Washington based U.S District Judge John D. Bates. With the house now being mostly Democratic this is good news for DACA recipients. Just recently the house Democrats introduced a bill that will offer 2.5 million immigrants a chance at a permanent status. The bill HR6 is called the Dream and Promise Act, which will allow Dreamers to apply for legalization as well as Temporary Protected Status holders to apply for green cards. There where three representatives that introduced the bill. They were Rep. Nydia Velázquez (NY), Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA), and Rep. Yvette Clarke (NY). Nydia Velázquez stated, “We are not going to allow Donald Trump to send back them back, and we are not going to ask them to live in a constant state of fear and uncertainty” from that statement and the what the bill does we can see where the democratic party stands going toward the 2020 election. Going into the 2020 president election immigration will play a strong topic for those who decide to run. I do believe that DACA recepient and other undocumented immigrants will play more a factor in political terms. Whether it may be in the form of directly helping in campaigns or indirectly by just helping getting the issues out and heard. One example would be from senator Bernie sanders who has already hired an Arizona activist who has declared herself as an immigrant without legal status. Belén Sisa has been hired to be deputy press secretary. Sanders stated, “Our campaign is about transforming our country and creating a government based on the principles of economic, social, racial and environmental justice.”
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JJAmerican Governments If you’ve been keeping up with current events, you may or may not have run into the issue of immigration. President Donald Trump has made it very clear that illegal immigrants are not welcomed in the US. With that being said, he’s come out with a new policy that restricts immigrants who are first time DACA applicants from being able to apply. The only type of submissions allowed will be for renewals. This is an issue because it will not only hurt the economy of the US but it will also affect those who are Dreamers receiving an education.
What is DACA and why is it important? In 2012, President Barack Obama created this policy, DACA, for those who came to the US as children. DACA stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. This policy allows them to stay in the US without the risk of deportation. To add on, it allows the recipients to get a hold of a workers permit, permission to study while in the US, and a state ID and/or Driver’s License. Besides what is mentioned above, DACA is important because it enriches the culture in the United States. For example, diversity can help society by being able to create new innovations like jobs and technology. This is also helps improve the nation’s economy. This is shown mostly through locally owned businesses. Not only does it add to the culture, but it also helps create jobs for others. Who are Dreamers? Now that we have addressed DACA, let’s talk about the recipients, also known as Dreamers. Dreamers are those who are under the age of 31 as of June of 2012 when the policy first was created and have consistently lived in the US before the age of 16. Most Dreamers are from Mexico, El Salvador, and other countries from Central America. They are most likely to live in the states of “California, Texas, Florida and New York” (Joanna Walters 2017). Why can President Trump’s policy change be seen as an issue? President Trump’s policy change can be seen as an issue because it affects students who are under DACA, especially those who are pursuing higher education. By ending DACA, Dreamers will be threatened of deportation and be sent back to their home countries once their permits expire. Like mentioned before, most dreamers came to the United States before they were 16 which can mean many don’t know much or remember what their home country is. To add on, this will cost Dreamers to pay out-of-state tuition for public colleges. Finally, it will also strip away the right to have a workers permit and ID/driver’s license which will make it harder on students to pay for college. How did the election of 2016 impact this issue? The impact the last election had on this issue was the conversation of ending DACA. During the 2016 election, Hillary Clinton (D) was asked what she would do to help Dreamers become permanent residents. Her response was to do whatever it would take to keep them in “schools, [working], and becoming productive members of society” (BallotPedia). Much like Clinton, Jill Stein (G) also worked towards keeping Dreamers protected. To add, Gary Johnson (L) also agreed with Obama’s Immigration Accountability Executive Actions. He said, “I think that what Obama has done is what needs to happen…” (BallotPedia). On the other hand, President Donald Trump (R) was against Obama and believed that illegal immigrants had to go. During his campaign he stated that he would “immediately terminate President Obama’s two illegal executive amnesties” (Joanna Walters 2017).He believed that those under DACA were stealing jobs from “hard working Americans.” Will the 2020 election focus on your issue? Yes. Immigration is one of the most controversial topics talked about in politics. It is one of the main factors that divides the political parties. With that said, one might begin to start asking questions about what is next. For example, both parties may ask how DACA can stay alive and protect Dreamers while compromising on strickening immigration laws. Another question that may spark in 2020 may be, how will candidates work on either helping Dreamers with their permanent residency or how candidates will help get rid of those who entered illegally faster. Finally, a question that may come up due to recent events with the detention centers is how will parties help keep families together? This was big news because several children were seperated from families for long periods of time. Not to mention, while in the processes of transferring them to the centers, there were reports of missing children and abuse. In conclusion, there are a lot of unanswered questions regarding DACA and Dreamers. In the upcoming election, it’ll be a hot topic to debate over. Regardless of the outcome, it affects millions of people in the United States. |
AuthorUndergraduate student generated content. Blog posting and updating done by Kristina Flores Victor, Assistant Professor of Political Science at CSUS Archives
March 2020
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