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Immigrant Inclusion & Racial Justice

November 19, 2015

By Manuel Pastor from the USC Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration (CSII) and Tom Jawetz and Lizet Ocampo from the Center for American Progress (CAP)

Please note: reports dated earlier than June 2020 were published under our previous names: the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE) or the USC Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration (CSII).

On the one year anniversary of President Obama’s executive action announcement, the Center for American Progress and CSII release a new report calculating how many potential votes could be on the line for the country’s political leaders when it comes to their stance on Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA).

CSII provides new state-by-state projections of how many U.S. citizens (of voting age) live with unauthorized family members who would be eligible for DAPA under the president’s plan—we call them “DAPA-affected voters”.

The report demonstrates how the growing electoral impact of DAPA-affected voters could play a decisive role in key battleground states in the 2016 elections and beyond.

Key findings include:

  • An estimated 6.3 million U.S. citizens live in the same household as a DAPA-eligible relative.
  • More than 5.3 million of these citizen family members are the children of those eligible for DAPA, and about 1 million are spouses and other relatives.
  • By 2016, 1.5 million of these 6.3 million citizen relatives will be eligible voters;
  • And by 2020, that figure will rise to 2.25 million as children and family members reach voting age.

Download report

DAPA Matters: The Growing Electorate Directly Affected by Executive Action on Immigration

Read our other publications by research area

    Immigrant Integration & Racial Justice

    Our work on immigrant integration and racial justice brings together three emphases: scholarship that draws on academic theory and rigorous research, data that provides information structured to highlight the process of immigrant integration over time, and engagement that seeks to create new dialogues with government, community organizers, business and civic leaders, immigrants and the voting public to advance immigrant integration and racial equity.

    Economic Inclusion & Climate Equity

    In the area of economic inclusion, we at ERI advance academic theory and practical applications linking economic growth, environmental quality, and civic health with bridging of racial and other gaps; produce accessible and actionable data and analysis through the data tools; and establish research partnerships to deepen and advance the dialogue, planning, and actions around racial equity, environmental justice, and the built environment.

    Social Movements & Governing Power

    ERI’s work in the area of governing power includes: conducting cross-disciplinary studies of today’s social movements, supporting learning and strategizing efforts to advance dialogues among organizers, funders, intermediaries, evaluators, and academics, and developing research-based social change frameworks and tools to inform—and be informed by—real-world, real-time efforts towards a vision of deep change.

    Publications Directory

    In 2020, the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE) and the USC Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration (CSII) merged to form the USC Equity Research Institute (ERI).

    The full list of publications published under our previous and current names can be found in our publications directory.

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