Opposition to DACA makes no economic or political sense for the country and is potentially catastrophic for immigrants raised most of their lives in the United States, experts said during a webinar hosted by the National Immigration Forum.
The Obama-era program provides work authorization and protection from deportation to immigrants raised in the U.S. after being brought into the nation illegally as children. The future of DACA is threatened by legal challenges and years of Congressional inaction on immigration reform.
Gaby Pacheco
But its demise would be devastating to the estimated 545,000 Dreamers who only know the U.S. as home, said Gaby Pacheco, president of TheDream.US, a college and career success program for undocumented youth.
“It would be a disaster to the communities they live in and the country as a whole,” she added. “Right now, the United States receives from DACA recipients $9.4 billion in taxes annually, and they contribute $2.1 billion to Social Security and Medicare.”
The businesses, educational and health care institutions where most Dreamers work would be hard-hit if nearly half a million people were suddenly and summarily deported.
The uncertainty around DACA already is unnerving its recipients and their families and coworkers, Pacheco said.“Today’s Dreamers are experiencing a growing angst every day because there’s so much conversation happening around immigration, but not enough problem-solving and not enough solutions.”
Their anxiety in part is a response to action initiated by Texas and several other conservative states in 2022 challenging the legality of the program and forcing a stop in new enrollments. The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals is reviewing the case amid concerns its ultimate fate could be decided by a right-leaning U.S. Supreme Court.
And those fears have been exacerbated by a rise in anti-immigrant political rhetoric and Congressional failures to introduce legislation creating a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers.
“We expect for there to be some lawsuits, however that should not stop anyone from doing the right thing.”
President Joe Biden’s recent order to increase Dreamers’ access to the Affordable Care Act has raised hopes he will protect DACA through further executive action, even though the move likely would invite legal challenge. “We expect for there to be some lawsuits, however, that should not stop anyone from doing the right thing,” Pacheco said.
Dan Boone
Continued federal inaction would likely evaporate if more people understood Dreamers’ dedication to education, said Dan Boone, president of Trevecca Nazarene University.
“I find myself almost nonplussed at times to figure out why common sense cannot find a way forward for good, hard-working, studious students who simply want to be a part of a nation and a community and offer the skills we have given them in college to make life better” for their families and communities, he said.
Dreamers also are unnerved by threats to DACA. “I’ll see many of these students just thrive in their freshman through junior years, and then they hit their senior year and you begin to see that fear of ‘Where will I work? Where can I get a job? What state may I need to move to?’ I’m watching that angst inside a generation that is ready to go to work in a nation that desperately needs them to work,” Boone said.
“They are the most appreciative for their education of any group of students I’ve seen.”
But they need opportunity and equality to use their educations for the betterment of their families and communities, he continued. “They are the most appreciative for their education of any group of students I’ve seen. Their work ethic exceeds anyone I’ve ever seen. Their sense of entitlement is zero because they’re working from a sense of having to earn everything they have.”
Those qualities also shine through in the workplace, said Jack Chen, associate general counsel for Microsoft. “I’m always surprised at the looks on people’s faces when I explain to them the kinds of contributions Dreamers are making broadly” and specifically at Microsoft.
Jack Chen
“We have over 70 Dreamers right now at Microsoft, and it ranges anywhere from software developers and engineering managers and leaders all the way to people who are designing user experiences for the metaverse and artificial intelligence specialists. We have people working in our data centers, financial analysts, administrative professionals, digital sales — it runs the whole gamut.”
The company goes to great lengths to communicate those qualities and contributions to state and federal legislators, Chen added. Microsoft seeks to bring people a closer understanding of Dreamers’ experience and to know what it’s like to work alongside a Dreamer.”
The intent also is to share how difficult continued doubts about DACA’s viability make the lives of Dreamers and their employers, Chen said. “For the folks who are in this situation, the No. 1 thing that they need to have is the constant ability to renew their DACA in the midst of all this uncertainty. For employers, the biggest challenge is going to be the uncertainty of making sure people have continuous work authorization.”
The nation also needs Dreamers to feel and be more secure, National immigration Forum President Jennie Murray said.
“We all know America is home for DACA recipients and for others who are eligible but can’t be processed because of court challenges. Dreamers. They contribute to our communities. They are employees, students, family members, churchgoers, parishioners, our friends. They pay taxes, some start businesses, and like all of us, they are simply just trying to live into their American dream.”
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