Exactly five years after the Obama administration implemented a historic program that has granted deportation relief to nearly 800,000 young undocumented immigrants, the Trump Administration late Thursday — in an apparent change of heart — announced it will keep the program, marking a small but significant victory for “Dreamers” nationwide.
DACA, known formally as the “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals” program, has formed a focal point of the immigration debate for several years, with critics arguing that Dreamers shouldn’t be rewarded for breaking the law. The administration’s decision grants newfound hope to Dreamers — young people brought to the U.S. illegally as children — who say their academic achievements and their potential to greatly contribute to the U.S. economy should be grounds for them to stay.
But many DACA recipients said they remain in limbo, unsure if they’ll be able to set down permanent roots in a country many of them consider home. Immigration advocates also condemned DHS’ rejection Thursday of a proposal that would’ve expended DACA to include new recipients.
In the announcement, the Department of Homeland Security did not say how long the current Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program will stand. Trump had pledged in his campaign to “immediately” cancel that program, though he softened that stance in recent months, at one point saying “the Dreamers should rest easy.” So far, most immigrants protected by the effort have not been targeted by stepped-up efforts to find and deport immigrants living in the country illegally.
The announcement shocked DACA-recipient Erick Silva Palacios, a 23-year-old teacher from San Jose. That shock quickly led to uncertainty.
“It’s like a weird ‘get out of jail free card’ because we were the easiest target, yet he skipped us,” he said of Trump’s decision to keep the program. “It’s awesome, but at the same time we’re back in limbo. There’s no determinant end. My future is still uncertain.”
DACA was created five years ago and, as of March 31, has protected 787,000 young immigrants, according to government data.
It’s been praised by activists and young Dreamers as a rare victory in federal immigration reform, granting thousands of young people the chance to go to college, purchase their first cars and pursue promising careers. For decades, most other immigration reform efforts have stalled amid partisan bickering.
Critics say the program wrongfully rewards people who are in the country illegally, granting them “amnesty” and opportunities in a country they don’t belong in.
A fact sheet posted on the department’s website says immigrants enrolled in the 2012 program “will continue to be eligible” to renew every two years and notes that “no work permits will be terminated prior to their current expiration dates.”
It wasn’t enough for Immigrant Legal Resource Center in San Francisco, which said, “The administration’s announcement that the original 2012 DACA would not be affected by this announcement falls short of a concrete commitment that DACA will indefinitely continue. Indeed, DACA recipients continue to be arrested, detained, and deported under the President’s deportation apparatus.”
Also in Thursday’s action, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly revoked the memo creating the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans program. The never-implemented program was created by President Barack Obama in 2014 to protect people living in the United States illegally who have children who are U.S. citizens or legal residents. They would have been kept safe from deportation and provided with renewable work permits.
The program was blocked by a federal judge in Texas after 26 states sued. Republicans saw it as a “backdoor amnesty” and argued that Obama overstepped his authority by protecting a specific class of immigrants living in the United States illegally.
The protection program for parents, like the one for young immigrants, was created with a policy memo, not by legislation. Both programs required that participants meet certain conditions, including not having a history of serious crimes.
Trump has made immigration enforcement a top priority and has vowed to continue a crackdown on those living in the U.S. illegally and those trying to sneak into the country.
But he’s taken a softer line on the program affecting young immigrants, who are sometimes referred to as “Dreamers.” In an Associated Press interview in April, Trump said his administration is “not after the dreamers, we are after the criminals” and that “The dreamers should rest easy.”
“The fact that the most radical president of our time decided to keep DACA shows that there’s something there,” said Palacios, who graduated from the University of Pennsylvania last year with Tiffany Trump, the president’s daughter. “We are an asset and I think he’s realizing that.”
Thousands of Dreamers across the country marked DACA’s five-year anniversary on social media Thursday, with many sharing anecdotes of what they’ve accomplished under the program.
