Let’s talk about something absurdly important and astoundingly
human. Let’s talk a little about DACA, or the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
program. Plenty of people have heard the word DACA lately but few people have
actually taken the time to learn what DACA is.
Imagine being a child and having a family member bring you into a place that you never knew in order for you to have a better education, or them to have a better job, or to escape violence. Imagine being this child and knowing nothing but "We are moving." Now, imagine growing up in this place thinking that you were just as much a part of the place as the little girl or little boy that sat next to you in class and learned with you... just the same as the children you ate lunch with and played on the playground with. You know equal to the individuals that you worked your first job with and maybe even attended prom with. Then imagine finding out one day that your whole world was a lie. There are people that could come in after you have lived in this place and had children there and deport you back to a place you never knew, without your family... Imagine doing everything right in order to be legally there once you found out you were not and still feeling as though you have to hide to stay safe because people different than you are coming to take you off to a place you don't know. Imagine feeling like you want to scream because your whole life changed with the outcome of one presidential race. That's the life of a Dreamer.
These Dreamers are important individuals to our society. They pay their taxes and work their asses off. They have families here and are our neighbors and friends. While there are more than 43 million immigrants in the U.S., according to the Migration Policy Institute, of those 43 million, about 11 million are undocumented immigrants. Around 22 percent of undocumented immigrants are under age 25, according to the Department of Homeland Security. So, what’s the difference between being undocumented and being a Dreamer? What’s the difference between an illegal immigrant and someone “protected” by DACA? A program that in 2016 had about 1.9 million people that were eligible for it...
Imagine being a child and having a family member bring you into a place that you never knew in order for you to have a better education, or them to have a better job, or to escape violence. Imagine being this child and knowing nothing but "We are moving." Now, imagine growing up in this place thinking that you were just as much a part of the place as the little girl or little boy that sat next to you in class and learned with you... just the same as the children you ate lunch with and played on the playground with. You know equal to the individuals that you worked your first job with and maybe even attended prom with. Then imagine finding out one day that your whole world was a lie. There are people that could come in after you have lived in this place and had children there and deport you back to a place you never knew, without your family... Imagine doing everything right in order to be legally there once you found out you were not and still feeling as though you have to hide to stay safe because people different than you are coming to take you off to a place you don't know. Imagine feeling like you want to scream because your whole life changed with the outcome of one presidential race. That's the life of a Dreamer.
These Dreamers are important individuals to our society. They pay their taxes and work their asses off. They have families here and are our neighbors and friends. While there are more than 43 million immigrants in the U.S., according to the Migration Policy Institute, of those 43 million, about 11 million are undocumented immigrants. Around 22 percent of undocumented immigrants are under age 25, according to the Department of Homeland Security. So, what’s the difference between being undocumented and being a Dreamer? What’s the difference between an illegal immigrant and someone “protected” by DACA? A program that in 2016 had about 1.9 million people that were eligible for it...
Well, let me break down some of the facts for you…
- About 788,000 have had their requests for DACA status
accepted, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
- They must have come to the U.S. before turning 16.
- Have continuously resided in the United States without
legal status since June 15, 2007.
- Be less than age 31 as of June 15, 2012 and at least age
15 at the time of the application.
- Be currently enrolled in school, have graduated high
school or obtained a general development certificate (GED), or be an honorably
discharged veteran.
- Have not been convicted of a felony or multiple or serious
misdemeanors and not pose a threat to national security or public safety
- About 72 percent of respondents were in higher education.
- After getting DACA, nearly 80 percent of respondents said
they got driver's licenses. About half became organ donors.
- DACA recipients average hourly wage was $17.46 an hour, which
was up from $10.29 before receiving DACA.
- In a Center for American Progress survey of roughly 3,000
DACA recipients, nine-tenths of respondents said they had jobs.
- Of DACA recipients, around 77% (428,000) are Mexican. El
Salvadorian immigrants make up the next highest percent, at 4%, no other
country accounted for more than 3% of approvals.
-California has 162,000 deferred action recipients, compared with 88,000 from Texas. Both states border Mexico and have the highest populations of Mexican immigrants.
-Arizona has the highest application rate. Around 66% of 34,000 eligible people have applied.
These humans are important to our Country, despite the
Republicans relentlessly combating against them. And NO! Promises are not
enough, we need a clean DACA bill that guarantees their ability to stay in this country.
These individuals did the right thing, they gave their most
private information to the Federal Government with the assurance that they would
be able to stay in the only country that most of them have ever known. We
waited for months to find out where President Trump stood on DACA and it still
seems that we are not 100% clear on what his stance is (because the man
flip-flops left and right on just about every issue depending on whom he is
talking to in that moment.) Most of the time though, the way the Trump
administration would have you believe, most Americans are against DACA; well, SURPRISE,
the administration is lying.
In fact, nothing could be further from the truth.
Most American’s want these humans to stay in the only country
that they have ever known. Most Americans believe that no human being is
illegal. If you need proof, a Morning Consult poll from April 2017 found that ‘56
percent of registered voters said Dreamers, another name for people who came to
the U.S. as kids, "should be allowed to stay and become citizens if they
meet certain requirements."’
If you want to be forthright about it, continuing to deport
these individuals would be detrimental to the United States of America. There is
proof of that in the form of actual numbers. The Center for American Progress
estimated that the U.S. would lose about $460 billion in GDP over the next 10
years without DACA. It is also estimated that around 700,000 people could lose
their jobs.
In the past year it is reported that more than “1,800
governors, attorneys general, mayors, state representatives, judges, police
chiefs and other leaders signed onto a letter supporting Dreamers and DACA recipients.”
A move showing how important these individuals are to us.
With the all so famous wall hanging over our heads (You know
the one that most Americans are against. The one that originally the
administration said Mexico would pay for, then decided that Americans had to
pay for it and still hasn’t gotten approval to build) and the fact that most
DACA recipients are Mexican, it is hard to reconcile in any mind how this isn’t
a racial issue being ignited by our President more than just a political bargaining chip…
Want to read more from Brooke?
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