On June 15, 2012, former President Barack Obama issued an executive order for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy. It allowed some people of unlawful presence in the United States who were brought here as children to receive employment authorization documents and avoid being deported.
Since its implementation, different people from either side of the political aisle have tried to expand the DACA rights or deem it outright unconstitutional.
But those who oppose DACA are cruel to a generation of marginalized people who are a part of life in the United States.
It is not inherently unlawful for people who were brought to the United States to work and study freely in this country.
DACA should be an open arms policy that accepts all those brought to this country before they could make their own decisions.
When the courts rule DACA unconstitutional, they stigmatize undocumented people living in the states. They create a narrative that illegal immigrants are boogeymen that must be pushed out of society and back into the darkness.
DACA should be accessible and extended to any undocumented student who seeks a higher education.
According to insidehighered.com, at least 408,000 undocumented students are enrolled at U.S. colleges and universities, making up 1.9 percent of college students nationwide as of 2021. About 141,000 students in all have DACA status or are eligible to participate in the program.
Statistics such as this one show that the demographic in question is not taking up space from U.S.-born students.
If the undocumented seek to attend community colleges and universities to further their careers and to make a living in the United States, the government should make those privileges accessible to them.
Dreamers should attend college and work freely without living each day wondering if their future in this country is in jeopardy. It is inhumane to allow courts and draconian laws to psychologically torture the minds of students who are the future of the U.S.
Not only should DACA be legal, but there should be outright support for the ways that it is currently being expanded. People with DACA status have been denied access to health coverage, and in 2021, nearly half of them reported delaying medical care due to their status.
According to unidosus.org, President Biden issued an executive order to strengthen access to quality, affordable health care.
According to U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, DACA recipients pay about $6.2 billion in federal taxes, and they pay another $3.3 billion in state and local taxes each year.
Based on those numbers, Dreamers are theoretically paying into the programs that should grant them access to health care coverage and public school education. They are working and paying their dues while living precariously.
“We take taxes, we take their employment, they serve in our health care systems, they serve our elderly, they are nursing home workers,” Cortez said. “I do not know a group of people who are often times more patriotic to this country than DACA recipients”
