The United States' Undocumented Immigrants
The United States has millions of undocumented immigrants who came into the country as children before attaining the age of sixteen years, and their parents do not own legal residence in the US. This group of people accounts for 1.3 percent of the American population, and they live in fear of deportation. In 2001 the Congress aimed at passing DREAM Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act) but they did not succeed, and in 2012 when the same Act was unable to go through despite 70 percent of Americans supporting it, President Obama came up with DACA (Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals) initiative. This program was meant to protect the people who entered the US before reaching the age of sixteen from deportation and give them a temporary right of staying, studying and working in the US. Those who meet DACA requirements are called DREAMers, and this name came as a result of the DREAM Act that was meant to allow those undocumented individuals who entered the US illegally before attaining the age of eighteen years a pathway towards achieving legal citizenship. As at February 2018, the number of undocumented immigrants was 11.3 million; out of this 3.6 million were DREAMers, 1.8 million were DREAMers qualifying for DACA program, and 800,000 were the DREAMers on DACA protection program. Ending the DACA program will put these immigrants at risk of deportation and therefore disrupting their well being a situation that will be against human rights and the values that America subscribes to.
Keywords: DACA, DREAMers, Rescind, American values, Human rights.
The Ethical Dilemma of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)
Introduction
The DACA program has benefitted a lot of DREAMers since its introduction, and because of it, they can now get accesses to employment and other opportunities. Similarly, the nation is also gaining a great deal from these people in GDP. With the Trump administration, the DREAMer might even suffer more if the DACA program is scraped as suggested. However, before this is done the government ought to look at the bigger picture of what deportation of about 11 million immigrants will do to the economy as well as the well being of the Americans citizens rather than basing their analysis on cost-benefit approach. The termination of the DACA program will come along with ethical consequences as well. This paper will delve into a review of the moral dilemma revolving around the issue of DACA.
There exists a difference between political decisions that are morally right and those that are legally right. Some political decisions are legal, but they may be considered immoral because they violate the social norm and greater good that individuals are expecting from their society and the government. DACA program is a temporary deferred action given to undocumented immigrants to protect them from deportation by allowing them to stay in the USA for two years a period that can be renewed upon expiry. DACA does not grant the illegal immigrant legal citizenship nor is it a general amnesty; however, a person under the program is considered lawfully present in the country and is eligible to apply for work permit, driver's license and apply for a job for as long as he is still on the program (Galea, 2017). The establishment of the DACA program has led to the emergence of a dilemma on the legality of its existence and the moral implication of ending it.
The majority of the US citizens are in the country as a result of their ancestors who took the risk of crossing over the border to land in the country. The nation has been built and is still being developed by the immigrants, and for this reason, America owes these people some rights, and this is why the immediate former president Obama established DACA program to delay their deportation. This program gives the undocumented immigrants a chance to live and work as they continue contributing to the development of the country. Rescinding the DACA initiative will be immoral, unethical and pragmatically wrong. The undocumented immigrants who qualified to be DREAMers were asked to register for DACA program and were promised that their deportation would be deferred, and they would be allowed to get social security card, drivers license and work permit that will enable them to be able to work in the country and pay tax like other citizens (Kusczewski & Zaidi, 2017). These people came out of the hiding because they trusted the US government and therefore turning on them and scrapping away the program violates the promise and is ethical, morally and pragmatically wrong. By giving DACA registrants the opportunities to live and work in the USA, the act is in line with who we are as moral individuals, an ethical society and pragmatically rational beings. The issue of criminalizing of the undocumented immigrants on DACA program and deporting them does not in any way represent what the American culture stands for considering that these individuals entered this country as minors and to them, this is what they call home. By giving the ICE information that the DACA immigrants provided to USCIS to use it against them is against the confidentiality policy and also is unethical (Switzerland & Abeilles, 2016). The USCIS assured the immigrants that their information would not be disclosed for immigration enforcement and going against this promise violet their human rights because such an act put them at risk of deportation and future disruption of their lives.
The decision of Trump administration to end DACA can be seen as legal because they claim that the former president overreached his executive powers and believed that putting in place strict immigration laws will provide a lasting solution to the issue. Ending the program will give the Congress an opportunity to enact immigration laws that are more comprehensive that will solve the problem and stop the country from depending on executive orders to deal with immigration issues. Although the process of rescinding the program is precedential and procedurally justified, it creates an ethical dilemma. According to deontologist like Kant, humanity should be respected and always treated with rational nature as an end and not as only a means. According to Kant's political and legal philosophy, the US government should protect the DACA beneficiaries from harm and uphold their liberty. "More exclusive ethical duties to others include the responsibility to contribute to the flourishing of rational nature in others through beneficence and the commitment to refrain from arrogance, defamation, ridicule, and other activities that deny people's humanity" (Linden, 2004). Although ending the DACA program could be legal but will leave these innocent immigrants who have played a vital part in the building of the country of the USA at risk of being deported a situation that will eventually affect them adversely.
The country of United States was founded on the values of mutual respect and open-mindedness that emerged during the period of enlightenment that allowed people to use reason to understand how the world operates. These American founding values have been instrumental in shaping everything in America ranging from politics to philosophy, and this gave birth to the concept of human rights which has become the guiding principle of American society. The American society is cosmopolitan that is integrated with people of different ethnicity and cultures and because of the culture of respect for all these people have lived together for centuries in harmony as one community. However, the current politics seems to be turning things around as witnessed in the decision made by President Donald Trump to end the DACA program. The program was established with the intention of fostering the country both morally and pragmatically by giving the undocumented immigrants a chance to have access to good citizenship, public service, and academic excellence. Although there is partisan disagreement about the establishment of this program, there has been a broad consensus that this was the right thing to do. The development of the program helped in strengthening the American values. Termination of the program will profoundly disrupt the well being of these 800 000 promising youth and also will be against their human rights (Zaidi & Kuczewski, 2017).
Conclusion
The program of DACA was established in 2012 by President Obama using an executive order to defer the deportation of the young undocumented immigrants who entered in the country illegally as minors. This program gave the beneficiaries rights to education, to live temporarily in the US and acquire a work permit and is considered by the majority as the morally, ethically and pragmatically right and in line with the American values. The decision by the president Donald Trump although might appear to be legal and procedural, they have ethical implication and will deny these immigrants humanity.
References
Galea S, 2017. On DACA and Challenges to Our Values. Boston University School of Public Health. https://www.bu.edu/sph/2017/09/06/on-daca-and-challenges-to-our-values/
Kusczewski M & Zaidi D. (2017). The Rescinding of DACA: What Should Healthcare Professionals and Academics Do? (And Why?). The American Journal of Bioethics. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2017.1391533
Linden H, 2004. "Immigration," "Immanuel Kant," and "Kantian Ethics." Butler University Libraries. https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1062&context=facsch_papers
Switzerland, L& Abeilles, C. 2016. Life Course, Ethical Dilemmas and Social Work. PROGRAM OF THE PUBLIC LECTURES. https://www.hes-so.ch/data/documents/SUSW2016-The-Public-Lectures-3-6899.pdf
Zaidi D & Kuczewski M. 2017. Ending DACA Has Pragmatic and Ethical Implications for U.S. Health Care. Wiley Online Library. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/hast.780
