Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) was a United States of America immigration program that allowed other citizens to enter the country as minors. It was a scheme that was implemented in June 2012, under Barack Obama's presidency. Nonetheless, President Donald Trump's administration revoked the program in September 2017. Repealing DACA has a number of unintended consequences for the citizens of America. There is, for example, the risk of multiple states suing to end the program. This paper outlines the case for why DACA should not be revoked.
Claims Why DACA Should Not Be Repealed
DACA Address Problems of Young Individuals
Repealing DACA would be a huge mistake due to the fact that the United States advocates for meritocratic sincerity to ability, intellectual excellence as well as the long culture of national service. Repealing of DACA would not provide the solution to the United States of America or to the young individuals who are directly engaged. Established in 2012 by President Barack Obama administration, DACA deals with the problems of young individuals who were brought to the U.S without any form of documentation when they were below 16 years old. These young individuals were referred to as the Dreamers in the U.S. DACA enabled them to speak out candidly to the government of the U.S. In response, they were supposed to take part in the military or registered in the higher education as long as they met the strict criteria established. They were also supposed to take up these roles provided that they had not carried out any serious criminal offense. DACA permitted them to have a driver’s license, Social Security number, and permit to work in the U.S. Most importantly, these young people were relieved from the fear of deportation. As a matter of fact, the policy was not a direct way to permanent citizenship in the U.S. It only permitted individuals to stay in the U.S temporarily while at the same time enjoying renewable opportunities for a normal life. DACA just applies specifically to young individuals who were brought to the United States as children prior to June 2007. Therefore, there was no need for the policy to be repealed since it helped to address the numerous problems faced by young individuals in the American society (Ana 1).
DACA Repeal Counter Run U.S National Interest
Repealing of DACA would actually counter national interest of the United States in different ways. One of the ways in DACA would run counter the national interest would be to get rid of the productive workers from the economy of the U.S while making the government lost billions of dollars in the direct deportation costs and future revenues. Besides, due to the fact that the Dreamers are normally defined as the products of the education system of the United States, getting rid of them from the U.S would mean losing a great national investment that could have had a positive impact on the economy. Therefore, the Dreamers who are well educated should be considered as a vital resource for the country and not a burden.
DACA Repeal Violates Deep American Principles
The United States of America has its own principles, however, repealing of DACA that helped the young individuals to pursue their dreams in the U.S violates such principles. The troubles of the Dreamers point to the deep issue of fairness in the U.S. The problems faced by the Dreamers normally begin from the harsh individual circumstances despite the fact that the young individuals have undertaken what any American parent might have dreamt for their children. For instance, many American families dream for their children to aim high, study very hard and earn a place or degree in the military or college respectively so as to open a great path to their professional success. The lack of documentation of the Dreamers is not their individual mistake. The Dreamers also came out of their shadows when they got opportunities in the U.S due to the fact that they trusted that the government would actually not penalize them for being honest. As a matter of fact, the threats of repealing DACA subjected the young individuals to brutal uncertainties. Currently, due to the decisions that other people made for them when they were still very young, they are afraid of losing all the opportunities that they got in the U.S, a country that they have loved and called home since their childhood (Nguyen, and Maraki 1).
DACA Repeal Has Negative Impact on U.S Military
Under the DACA policy, young people below 16 years old who were brought to the U.S illegally were permitted to work in the military. A program under the Department of Defense program referred to as the Military Accessions Vital to National Interest (MAVNI) provided individuals with specifically valuable skills such as foreign languages to hasten their U.S citizenship through getting involved in the military services. Nevertheless, in 2016, a security issue resulted to the increased security screening of other MAVNI candidates. As a result, the majority of the recruits who were to be subjected to the screening would lose their VISA status even though they did not commit any offense. Therefore, repealing of the DACA policy would make DACA recruits who were not registered in the MAVNI program to suffer. The recruits who have served in the military have vital information about the U.S military hence it might pose security threat to the U.S in case they lose their VISAs to stay and work in the U.S. Repealing of the DACA policy has serious impacts to the military where those who had served the country with dedication were left to suffer (Patler and Jorge 1).
DACA Repeal Contributes to Increased Criminal Activities
The repeal of DACA would result to the prospect of deporting about 800,000 young individuals who benefited from the policy. Besides the stresses associated with living in the U.S without documentation, the majority of the young individuals have already been living with some forms of anxiety and fear throughout the campaign period of President Trump. Nevertheless, the prospects of deporting such individuals will result in the majority of them hiding so as to evade deportation. There are also other young individuals who will engage in bringing drugs into the U.S since they do not have any form of documentation. In addition, there will be an increase in criminal activities since such individuals will not be sure of their security of stay in the U.S created by increased uncertainties. The best way to offer the certainty to the young individuals who were to be protected by the policy is for the U.S Congress to enact the law that protects the Dreamers. It is therefore vital for the U.S government to reconsider the decision to repeal the DACA policy (Korte 2).
Counterclaim
Unilateral Executive Amnesty
Despite the fact that many young individuals have benefited from DACA, it was not constitutional but a unilateral amnesty by the executive. The impact of the unilateral executive amnesty resulted in an increase in the number of unaccompanied children on the U.S borders leading to the increased humanitarian crisis in the U.S. Therefore, repealing should not cause any alarm since DACA has led to increased criminal activities committed by undocumented individuals who enter the U.S as Dreamers. The idea to deport the illegal immigrants who camouflage in the form of Dreamers however they engage in criminal activities requires tough decisions to be made. Repealing of the policy would definitely help in ensuring that all the individuals living in the U.S are well documented thus reducing the prospect of terrorists using undocumented individuals to commit terrorist attacks. The government can enact a new policy with strict measures on how to recruit individuals into the U.S military and education systems. This would help ensure that there are a reduced number of undocumented people who illegally enter the U.S without the full authorization by the U.S Immigration Department. The principles of America is mainly anchored on fairness hence it would be unfair for the government to be lenient to the DACA beneficiaries while at the same time requiring every American citizen to have full documentation. Nevertheless, DACA has assisted many individuals who illegally entered the U.S since they have been able to accomplish their dreams of earning their academic qualifications and also serving in the U.S military (Goggin 1).
Work Cited
Ana, Otto Santa. “The cowboy and the goddess: Television news mythmaking about immigrants.” Discourse & Society, Sage Journals, 2 Nov. 2015, journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0957926515605962.
Goggin, Benjamin. “Digg.” Trump Administration Officially Ends DACA - Here's What's Going On, 1 Sept. 2017, digg.com/2017/what-is-daca-trump-repeal-dreamers.
Korte, Gregory, et al. “Trump administration struggles with fate of 900 DREAMers serving in the military.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 7 Sept. 2017, www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/09/07/trump-administration-struggles-fate-900-dreamers-serving-military/640637001/.
Nguyen, Chi, and Maraki Kebeti. “Immigrant Students in the Trump Era: What We Know and Do Not Know.” Educational Policy, Sage Journals, 16 Aug. 2017, journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0895904817723740.
Patler, Caitlin , and Jorge A Cabrera. From Undocumented to DACAmented Impacts of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Program Three Years Following its Announcement. Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, June 2015, www.chicano.ucla.edu/files/Patler_DACA_Report_061515.pdf.
