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Repost: Three Reasons to Protect DACA

On November 12, 2019 the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments regarding the future of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. The Supreme Court, with a 5-4 conservative majority, will review whether the Trump administration’s September 2017 decision to rescind DACA is reviewable by the court and if so, whether the administration’s rationale to end DACA violated the Administrative Procedure Act. Lower court rulings in California, New York, and the District of Columbia claim that the Trump administration’s justification for ending DACA was “arbitrary and capricious.” Tuesday’s hearings place DACA beneficiaries in jeopardy. We revisit the importance of DACA in the lives of beneficiaries and the country as a whole in anticipation of the impending Supreme Court hearings with this earlier piece by Karina Santellano and Jody Agius Vallejo.
ByKarina Santellano, Graduate Student, USC Sociology and Prof. Jody Agius Vallejo, USC Sociology and CSII Associate Director November 12, 2019

Originally published: August 30, 2017

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is an Obama-era executive action that provides temporary relief from deportation and work permits to undocumented young people brought to the U.S. as children. However, DACA’s future is in peril. Ten state attorneys general provided an ultimatum to Trump: terminate the program by September 5, 2017 or they will challenge the policy in an unfriendly court. As the country awaits Trump’s decision, it is important to understand what the dissolution of the program would mean for DACA beneficiaries (sometimes referred to as “DACAmented” individuals) who have integrated into our universities, workplaces, communities, and America more broadly. Here are three ways in which DACA has improved the lives of DACAmented people and our society.

 

1.     DACA allows young people to come out of the shadows and integrate into the labor market.

The 2017 National DACA Study, conducted by Tom Wong, UC San Diego professor of political science, along with United We Dream, the National Immigration Law Center, and the Center for American Progress reports that 54% of respondents secured their first job after obtaining work authorization via DACA, and 91% of respondents are currently employed. DACAmented youth work in a range of industries and 8% own businesses. The Center for American Progress estimates that ending the program would remove an estimated 685,000 workers from the American economy. As home to the largest DACA beneficiary population at more than 200,000 people, California communities and labor markets will be severely affected by DACA’s termination.

 

2.     DACA allows youth to pursue their educational dreams.

The National Undocumented Research Project found that DACA puts higher education within reach of undocumented youth via increased access to in-state tuition and increased wages. Among those surveyed for the 2017 National DACA Study, two-thirds said that they pursued educational opportunities that they could not before they were DACAmented, and 72% of respondents were pursuing a bachelor’s degree or higher. DACA beneficiaries are earning degrees in various fields including STEM programs like engineering, mathematics, and health sciences.

 

3.      DACA beneficiaries make significant economic contributions to local, regional, and national economies.

Work authorization and increased educational attainment has helped DACAmented youth land jobs with higher pay, allowing people to take better care of their families and make larger economic contributions to society. According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), DACA-eligible youth contribute an estimated $2 billion a year in state and local taxes that help to improve schools, infrastructure, and that pay for social services.  The Center for American Progress estimates that eliminating DACA would result in a loss of approximately $460.3 billion to the U.S. GDP over the next 10 years. The 10 states urging Trump to end DACA would lose more than $8 billion annually.

 

Source: Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy 2017

 

Research demonstrates that DACA beneficiaries are rooted to social institutions like schools, labor markets, and communities throughout the Nation. The termination of the program will have devastating consequences on the wellbeing of DACAmented people and their families, and the negative social and economic effects will be felt at all levels of society—from treasuries, to small-town businesses, to civil society, to higher education. The Trump administration must remember what is at stake when evaluating DACA’s future and also the lessons that DACA provides.

The program is an undeniable success and DACA concretely demonstrates how authorization to live, work, and pursue educational dreams simultaneously helps immigrants integrate and strengthens society. Instead of rescinding DACA, or simply leaving it in place, policy makers could help amplify these positive effects by acting swiftly to provide a permanent pathway to citizenship for undocumented people—a solution supported by the majority of Americans.

About the authors

Karina Santellano is a graduate student in Sociology at USC. Her interests include race/ethnicity, immigration, and higher education. Currently, she is conducting research examining undocumented students’ experiences at Dream Resource Centers at public universities in California.

Jody Agius Vallejo is Associate Professor of Sociology and American Studies and Ethnicity at USC, and Associate Director of the Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration. She studies immigrant integration, social mobility, and racial/ethnic inequalities.

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