When removing DACA, are we also removing the morals of Amercia?
President Donald Trump recently finalizes decision to revoke DACA
On Tuesday, September 5th, Trump and his administration announced that they are going to end the DACA program. This decision has shifted focus within the government to America’s laws of immigration, and has induced a sense of fear and panic for many immigrants in America.
DACA stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and is a law that was established by Obama and his administration in June of 2012. DACA was passed to protect and give temporary citizenship to undocumented immigrants who came into America as children.This is because as a child, when your family comes to America illegally, you are forced to go with them and you don’t really have a choice. Because of this Obama felt that it was unfair to condemn these people for something they have little to no control over. In order to be eligible for DACA, an immigrant had to have entered the country before the age of 16, lived in the U.S. since 2007, and has no record of criminal history. Under the DACA program, an immigrant gains temporary citizenship and can, get a valid drivers license, enroll into college, secure jobs, and legally pay income taxes. An applicant for DACA has to renew their membership every two years and has to go through the same original process and still meet all of the requirements. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program is a revised plan to the DREAM act that was originally proposed by Obama but denied by congress. The DREAM act was a program that allowed immigrants, that met certain requirements, to gain citizenship though enlisting in the military or attending college. Obama’s goal in attempting to initiate these programs was to provide a future for immigrants so they can live the American Dream and it was said that they were, “Exercising Prosecutorial Discretion with Respect to Individuals Who Came to the United States as Children” (Janet Napolitano, 2012). When congress passed DACA, it was a very large step for America, as far as immigration reforms, and promised a hopeful future for over 800,000 immigrants.
President Trump has now used his executive authority to end the program, after which many people posed the question, what does that mean for the people currently enrolled. As of right now, there are no more applications being accepted into DACA, but the current members are still safe for the next six months. Under Trumps new rule, a member of DACA whose permit expires before March 5th, 2018 can still continue to be a DACA member until expiration. Throughout most of his campaign, Donald Trump promised to do away with Obama’s DACA program as soon as he got into office. However, in his short time being president, he has changed his mind and decided to take a more sympathetic approach to the situation saying, “DACA is a very, very difficult subject for me, I will tell you. To me, it’s one of the most difficult subjects I have because you have these incredible kids… We’re gonna deal with DACA with heart” but he still decided to remove the program. Both immigrants affected by DACA and American citizens with sympathy, have gone into an uproar about trumps decision. There have been many protests and public speeches all over the country. These people who oppose trumps decision feel as though the immigrants are young people who are just trying to making a living and a promising future for themselves; they were promised that opportunity and to take it away is just heartless. Trump is also receiving criticism from his own supporters because they are upset at the fact that he switch up his stance on the immigration reform and is not staying true to what he said during his campaign. In response to people accusing Trump of putting thousands of immigrants at risk of deportation, Trump said that he isn’t just flat out ending DACA, he is giving congress the opportunity to fix it. So basically, instead of keeping DACA or coming up with his own reform to replace it, Trump has decided to force congress’s hand at creating a reform that replaces DACA. The problem with this is that congress may not be able to solve the issue in six months or the plan they come up with may not provide the same security and protect that DACA did, either way, thousands of immigrants are at risk of being deported.
The media presents immigrants in a very negative light that makes them seem like delinquents and people detrimental to our society. They say that they are taking away American Jobs, resources, and basic liberties that should only be afforded to Americans. I strongly disagree with this way of thinking that many Americans have because it is inaccurate, unfair, and often said about people that they have never met nor interacted with. Many immigrants are hard working people who want to make a better living for themselves, which is the premise of what America was founded on. Rather than taking away jobs, a lot of immigrants enhance the economy by providing more labor in the work force and doing jobs that otherwise would not be done as efficiently. Often in a lot of situations, you wouldn’t even know that a coworker or a best friend was an immigrant. So, if this is the case how can we really say harsh things about these people.
I am a strong supporter of DACA and so is the community around me. For example in Georgia,
Gwinnett County students are taking the initiative to make a change in their community by organizing a peaceful protest in the heart of their town. Their goal is, “To make our county’s school board release a statement that they support their students, documented or not.” Even though to some this may seem like a small movement that wouldn’t make much of a change, it is a huge step in showing the unity of citizens and sticking up for those around us.
DACA is a very important topic about morals, citizenship, and rights. It can be considered a water shed moment for many people to decide how they stand on immigration and whether or not they support the deportation of many people who have paved their own way in our society. If you are interested in speaking out for DACA or seeing other people’s opinions, as well as finding out what part you can take in showing support, visit these links:
Sources:
http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/04/politics/daca-dreamers-immigration-program/index.html
https://www.dhs.gov/news/2017/09/05/fact-sheet-rescission-deferred-action-childhood-arrivals-daca
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/trump-dreamers-daca-immigration-announcement-n798686
oceanmtnsky • Sep 17, 2017 at 3:59 pm
They are the type of students we want in this country.
http://www.npr.org/2017/09/16/551544757/daca-a-students-story-they-are-the-types-of-immigrants-you-want-in-your-country
cupcake • Sep 15, 2017 at 9:28 am
I have a strong opinion on the program DACA being taken away from people. I think its very unfair that people who just want a better future or follow their dreams, can’t in their countries because in the United States there’s way more opportunities than Spanish countries which most. Most of the Spanish countries are poor. I myself am a Dreamer and I came with my mom from my country when I was only 4 years old, to have a better future and achieve my goals. We aren’t criminals or bad people who go to jail and do bad things in the United States. We are people who actually help the United States with having more workers at jobs or having more students graduate and go to college and get a carrier. People who were born in the United States have more freedom and more opportunities than illegal immigrants who can’t travel to places they desire to or even be able to drive or go to college without it being a problem or expensive. I appreciate the topic you wrote about it is a strong and sad topic that is very unfair.
GT-R • Sep 15, 2017 at 8:38 am
Removing DACA will break dreams to those who desire a better future for themselves. In my opinion president Donald Trump is really not thinking clearly, because in his words we can all tell he has problems toward the immigrants. I believe he categorizes immigrants and other people as a threat to this country, he doesn’t think in making a better country for everyone in the United States. For him to be the leader, he should consider more of his decisions because he is contributing to the division of people and not working on how to work together as a country and society.
cheli . • Sep 13, 2017 at 12:23 pm
I like your current event because you wrote about the big problem that 800,000 dreamers have. I cant imagine how dreamers feel about it because some of them left their country looking for a better life, and it is unfair how our president wants to remove this program.However, President Trump does not know that many of these dreamers are firefighters, policemen or people who helps the country. For example, one of the firefighters who helped victims in Texas is a dreamer. I hope the president watches these news, and he changes his mind about this situation.
My question is. Where the money would come to send 800.000 dreamers to their homeland?