On Tuesday, September 5, 2017, US President Donald Trump decided that his administration will rescind the longstanding immigration policy known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). After Congress failed to pass the DREAM Act, President Obama instituted DACA in 2012. DACA allowed "Dreamers," or certain undocumented immigrants, to escape deportation and obtain work permits, renewable upon good behavior. Many Dreamers are children whose parents illegally immigrated and brought them to the US. Trump's action has caused immense backlash, and both public and private sector figures have spoken out against the policy change.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions officially announced that DACA implementation will expire in six months and that over 800,000 Dreamers will be at risk for deportation by March 5, 2018. Trump had campaigned on a promise to end DACA. The main reasoning behind the proposal is that Dreamers are receiving quality jobs, welfare benefits, and higher education financial aid instead of more qualified American citizens and permanent residents and that DACA incentivizes unauthorized immigration of families. However, there is scant evidence for the claims. Nevertheless, many Republican voters and conservative members of Trump's base were enthusiastic, even as Speaker of the House Paul Ryan expressed concern about the policy change.
Democrats have heavily criticized the Trump administration's decision. Among their points for supporting DACA is that Dreamers contribute greatly to economic growth, and thus DACA's expiration will likely hurt the US economy. First, the loss of Dreamers will mean a worse shortage of skilled workers. Especially in construction, manufacturing, and agriculture, industries where Dreams are more included to work than American citizens, a labor shortage problem exists. In California, farmers reported losses of $13 million in unpicked strawberries last year. Also, DACA's ending may result in an estimated $60 billion loss in tax revenue to the federal government and decrease of $433 billion in economic growth over a decade. Finally, Dreamers pay payroll taxes that help fund Social Security and Medicare for older retired Americans while ineligible to receive federal welfare benefits themselves.
The private sector especially has criticized Trump's decision and stated their support for Dreamers. A letter calling on Trump and Congress to preserve DACA has been signed by over 600 CEOs. Facebook's
It seems that the benefits of Trump's DACA action are few, yet the humanitarian and economic costs are relatively high. Therefore it is now up to Congress to act and address the problem in order to help deserving Dreamers and the economy.
The author does not hold any positions in any of the securities above.
