Why DACA Should Be Protected!

President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA is a hugely successful program which benefited nearly 800,000 young people. Now, President Trump is ceremoniously trying to terminate the program and put these young peoples’ lives in grave danger. Even though DACA recipients came illegally to the USA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program should be legalized because most of the DACA recipients have not only lived their whole life in this country but, they have also contributed significantly to our economy.

The average age of DACA recipients when they came here is 6 ½ years. Most of them don’t even know the language of their birth country. They learned to fall and rise in the very backyards of our neighborhoods. They had no clue that they were not permitted to live in this country until the time came when they had to apply for college. Just imagine how devastating it would have been for them as they always had a feeling that they are as Americans as anyone else.

It must have been so much fulfilling to these dreamers when President Obama used his executive powers to introduce DACA after years of congress inability to do something for them. It is estimated that DACA recipients contribute almost $1.2 billion a year in taxes. By scrapping DACA, it is estimated that the GDP will lose more than $400 billion over the next decade. But, this is just the monetary loss and we should not forget the moral damage it will do to these young dreamers.

When the Trump administration decided they are scrapping DACA, Attorney General Jeff Sessions explained DACA as an open borders policy that took in everyone. However, that is not an accurate judgement of what DACA is. DACA is just a symbol of hope for a small proportion of young individuals who crossed over the border without even knowing what a border is.

By suggesting that DACA recipients pose a threat to America and its citizens is an outrageously misleading statement by the Attorney General. To qualify for a DACA program, an individual has to go through rigorous screening and evaluation. It only allows the recipient to work and study legally for a period of two years. Post that, they have to go through the whole process again and if found guilty of posing a threat, their renewals are rejected.

One of the fundamentals of the DACA program was that it only deferred enforcement action from federal authorities to deport such young people who met certain qualifications as set by the Homeland Security. It does not grant legal status and that was always left for the congress to decide at a later date in a bi-partisan agreeable framework. So, this was never an open borders policy.

By scrapping the program, President Trump seems to be only feeding his base and has no heart for vulnerable young people who are now parents, scholars, children, and leaders in their communities. I whole heartedly urge all American brothers and sisters to rise above this cruelty and use their power of being Americans to protect the dreamers and stand with them in solidarity.