Thread: DACA: Is the American dream dead?

DACA: Is the American dream dead?

Jan 23, 2018



The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program is set to expire in March, and lawmakers are scrambling to find a solution for the program’s recipients.

Jose Muñoz, a senior studying financial economics, is a DACA recipient. Muñoz came to the U.S. when he was six years old. Since then, he has worked and now attends college.

DACA protects people who immigrated to the U.S. as minors, from deportation. This policy was established under President Barack Obama’s administration in 2012 by the Department of Homeland Security.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced in September that DACA will be officially rescinded by March, according to CBSNews.

Immigrants under DACA face an uncertain future in the U.S. pending because a new immigration bill.

“We’ve gotten this DACA process started through Obama, but when Trump took over, there was a lot more uncertainty, Muñoz said. “Specifically for DACA recipients that are studying or working or everything else; I feel like we’re stuck in limbo.”

According to Immigration Equality, potential DACA recipients must be under 31 years of age as of June 15, 2012 to be accepted into DACA. They must have “(come) to the U.S. while under the age of 16 have continuously resided in the U.S. from June 15, 2007 to the present.”

Recipients apply for and receive a two-year renewable deferred action on their immigration status. They work and attend school in the U.S., they pay taxes and extra fees, and often do not qualify for in-state tuition at universities.

The DACA policy was derived from the Dream Act. According to the National Immigration Law Center, the Dream Act would make several changes to current law.

The Dream Act would “grant current DACA beneficiaries permanent resident status on a conditional basis … and provide a pathway to U.S. citizenship,” according to the National Immigration Law Center. “It stops the removal proceedings of anyone who meets the Dream Act requirements, and young people over 5 years of age who are enrolled in elementary or secondary school. It would improve college affordability for undocumented youth … by changing rules that limit their access to in-state tuition and to student financial aid.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham reintroduced the Dream Act in July 2017. The act is cosponsored by 10 other senators, seven Democrats and three Republicans, according to congress.gov.

“The Dream Act would help people who have been living here get a college education, have a good paying job, be above the poverty line,” said Emily Grover, professor in the English Department. “There doesn’t seem to be any negative economic consequences from the Dream Act.”

More recently, according to The Hill, Graham introduced a new bipartisan immigration proposal on Jan. 17 that includes a “path to citizenship (for DACA recipients), more than $2.7 billion in border security, an elimination of Diversity Visa Lottery and changes to family-based immigration.”

The bill has majority support in the Senate, but not the required 60 voters as of Jan. 20.

Graham’s bill is not the only immigration bill in Congress. The Spokesman Review reported Jan. 10 that Sen. Bob Goodlatte of Virginia proposed Securing America’s Future Act of 2018, which has been cosponsored by 25 Republican senators.

According to The Spokesman Review, this bill allows skilled workers access to green cards, grants amnesty for three years at a time for some undocumented green cards, grants amnesty for three years at a time for some undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. and provides $30 billion for a wall along the Mexican border.

Idaho Rep. Raul Labrador, along with Arizona Rep. Martha McSally, Border Maritime Security Subcommittee chairwoman, and Texas Rep. Michael McCaul, Homeland Security Committee chairman, introduced the bill along with Goodlatte, according to congress.gov.

According to The Spokesman Review, the Securing America’s Future Act of 2018 “(includes) creating a new agricultural guest worker program and (places) a greater emphasis on job skills when deciding who gets a visa … this bill … (makes) it more difficult to get visas for family members … sharply reducing what is known as ‘chain migration.’”

Trump praised the Securing America’s Future Act bill on Jan. 10 in a statement from the press secretary: “The President looks forward to advancing legislation that secures the border, ends chain migration, cancels the visa lottery and addresses the status of the DACA population in a responsible fashion.”

This new bill does not have bipartisan support, according to congress.gov.
On Jan. 9, the rescinding of DACA was challenged by U.S. District Judge William Alsup, who blocked the Trump administration’s efforts to end the program. Alsup ruled that DACA protections must remain until the 9th U.S. circut Court of Appeals makes a ruling. Alsup ordered the government to continue taking renewal applications, according to CNN.

According to CNN, “The judge said a nationwide injunction was ‘appropriate’ because ‘our country has a strong interest in the uniform application of immigration law and policy.’”

Trump called the judicial system “broken” and “unfair” in a tweet on Jan. 10. The Justice Department said on Jan. 10 they would ask the Supreme Court directly to overturn Alsup’s ruling, according to the Washington Post.

“I’ve had at least one Dreamer in my classes who told me that she came to America as a child,” Grover said. “If DACA ended, she could be sent away. She couldn’t even conceive it because she hasn’t lived in her home country since she was a toddler.”

Because BYU-Idaho accepts a great deal of diverse students, many students will be affected by changes in immigration policy.

“I think that there are more BYU-Idaho students affected than what some students would assume,” Grover said. “As people of Idaho and people of BYU-Idaho, we should be really supportive of anything that will help more Latter-day Saints from around the world come here and get an education at BYU-Idaho, where we know it’s such a special place.”

Dana McCloy, a student from Perth, Australia and a senior studying elementary education, said she experienced the difficulty of immigration firsthand as she went through the process to come to BYU-I.

“Personally, being a non-U.S. citizen but living here, I am in favor of anything that helps people … live in the U.S., that protects them,” McCloy said. “I know how hard it is to go through all the work to get here.”

There are more than 3,000 DACA recipients living in Idaho, according to the Idaho Statesman, all of whom will be stuck in limbo while DACA is phased out and as Congress grapples with a new immigration bill.

“DACA has made it to where there are less people living in poverty, and more educated people,” Grover said. “It has been good for our economy, is what the data seems to suggest. People in Idaho should be supportive of that.”

Muñoz said worry among DACA recipients like himself is widespread.

“I’m not worried about myself more than the ripple effects that can come through my immediate family or my extended family just being stuck in limbo,” he said. “I also feel like politically, it’s like we’re hostages. It’s not a good feeling being stuck in that side of an argument, especially an argument so divided.”

http://byuiscroll.org/daca-american-dream-dead/

They are not Americans. They can dream big dreams in their own nations. They are nightmares for taxpayers, for those needing jobs, for so many others.

Those educated illegal aliens should take the best learned in and from America and do good in their home countries. Former president of Mexico, Vincente Fox, said tonight that they are wanted in Mexico and that with their education they would be good for Mexico.

Let them try that bullying and demonstrating and squatting to demand things at home. We are tired of witnessing and listening to their socialist drivel.

our kid's have Dream also . but they get is a kick in the ass.

Amnesty solves NOTHING!

No path to stay.

They have extended family here...ALL illegal...send the whole family back!

NO COMPROMISE ON THIS...SEND THEM BACK!