POLITICS
How did President Obama try to expand DACA?
Teachers, scroll down for a quick list of key resources in our Teachers Toolkit.
Discussion Ideas
- President Donald Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the U.S. government is rescinding DACA. What is DACA?
- DACA stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. It is an executive order issued by President Barack Obama in 2012.
- An executive order is a legally binding set of orders from the president (the Chief Executive) to federal agencies. The federal agencies most impacted by DACA are the U.S. United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
- DACA is part of U.S. immigration policy. It gives those who qualify the right to legally work in the U.S., and a deferral on consideration for deportation. A DACA application can be renewed every two years.
- To qualify for DACA, applicants must:
- have come to the U.S. before their 16th birthday.
- have lived continuously in the U.S. since June 15, 2007.
- have been born no earlier than June 16, 1981.
- have been physically in the U.S. on June 15, 2012 (when DACA was enacted) and at the time of their DACA request.
- be enrolled in school, be serving in the military, have completed high school, or have been honorably discharged from the military.
- have not been convicted of a felony or serious misdemeanors.
- To qualify for DACA, applicants must:
- DACA stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. It is an executive order issued by President Barack Obama in 2012.
- Is DACA part of a path to American citizenship for so-called “Dreamers”?
- No. As its name implies, DACA defers the possibility of deportation and allows for legal work in the U.S. It is not part of a citizenship or permanent residency program.
- Where are DACA recipients from?
- “Dreamers” are overwhelmingly from Latin America, mostly Mexico, El Salvador, and Guatemala.
- To put this in perspective, review the DACA requirements and find your state’s immigration demographics here.
- What have President Trump and AG Sessions changed about DACA?
- The government is beginning an “orderly transition and wind-down of DACA.” The program will officially end in six months—on March 5, 2018.
- What happens in six months? (Here’s where you might want to review the definition of an executive order.)
- To be determined. The Trump plan gives Congress that amount of time to implement a new immigration policy. In a late-night tweet, President Trump even encouraged Congress to “legalize DACA.” What?
- President Trump’s issue with DACA seems to be that it was not a law passed by Congress, but an executive order that did an “end-run around Congress.” Trump, Sessions, and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan all think DACA was an “abuse of executive authority.”
- Critics of DACA are right in that it was issued without Congressional or judicial oversight. Every president (except Harrison!) has issued such executive orders, and President Trump himself is on track to issue more executive orders than any president in history. Trump’s most famous executive order is probably the so-called “Muslim Ban.”
- President Trump’s issue with DACA seems to be that it was not a law passed by Congress, but an executive order that did an “end-run around Congress.” Trump, Sessions, and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan all think DACA was an “abuse of executive authority.”
- To be determined. The Trump plan gives Congress that amount of time to implement a new immigration policy. In a late-night tweet, President Trump even encouraged Congress to “legalize DACA.” What?
- What will happen to the 800,000 “Dreamers” protected by DACA now?
- The Department of Homeland Security is no longer accepting new applications for the program. All pending applications will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
- Travel outside the U.S. will be limited. Right now, Dreamers must have an approved form to legally travel outside the country for education, employment, or humanitarian purposes. USCIS is no longer approving those forms.
- What will happen if Congress fails to pass immigration reform by March?
- Dreamers whose two-year deferrals are up may be vulnerable to deportation. USCIS says it will not share the immigration status of Dreamers with other federal agencies (including ICE or CBP) unless the person “poses a risk to national security or public safety.”
- In 2018, more than 275,000 Dreamers are set to have their DACA protections expire. In 2019, more than 321,000 Dreamers are set to have their DACA protections expire.
- Dreamers whose two-year deferrals are up may be vulnerable to deportation. USCIS says it will not share the immigration status of Dreamers with other federal agencies (including ICE or CBP) unless the person “poses a risk to national security or public safety.”
TEACHERS TOOLKIT
Department of Homeland Security: Frequently Asked Questions: Rescission Of Deferred Action For Childhood Arrivals (DACA)
PBS NewsHour: Trump’s decision to end DACA, explained
Washington Post: What to know about the decision to end DACA
Washington Post: The White House statement on DACA, annotated
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