By Kathy Tabe-Ebob
In 2012, during the Obama administration, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano announced the creation of DACA, allowing certain people who came to the U.S. as children and met certain requirements would be able to file for the consideration of deferred action for a one-year period. The consideration criteria included the applicant being under the age of 31 before the date June 15, 2012, to have entered this country before the age of 16, to have not been convicted of a felony or significant misdemeanor, and to not pose a threat to national security. This allowed such immigrants to legally stay in the U.S and have access to two-year work permits.
DACA recipients, commonly known as “dreamers,” are not considered U.S. citizens, nor are they considered illegal residents. This status provides a sense of security to dreamers. However, since the creation of the program, there has been backlash from some Americans who believe the program is illegal. Specifically, they believe that DACA goes against immigration laws that have been previously set. Others suggest that dreamers think themselves above the law due to their unconventional entry into the U.S.
Today, Georgia is home to approximately 20,000 dreamers, and 77% of them are part of the workforce, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Ronald Bayor, a historian and professor emeritus at Georgia Tech who specializes in immigration history, said the backlash that the program faces is due to this country’s disdain for immigrants, especially those who do not come from European countries.
“These youngsters have become in every way culturally and every other way Americans, and to send them back to a country they have never been to is something that we should not be doing,” said Bayor.
Bayor argued that DACA is a crucial program and that the recipients are, in most ways, Americans. However, his main issues with the program stems from the fact that there is not a real “path to citizenship” within the program. Bayor believes creating this path to citizenship within the program is a way to give these dreamers “a foothold in the country.” Another major drawback to the program, he said, is the length of the deferred action period which is two years, and the unwaivable price to renew the application, once the deferred action period is over, which is approximately $500.
There have been some changes to the program since the Obama administration ended, including the increase of the deferred action period from one year to two years.
On September 13, 2023, U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Hanen declared DACA illegal. According to Bayor, this case is almost guaranteed to be successfully appealed to the U.S Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and there is a large chance it ends up in the Supreme Court. Judge Hanen’s decision has caused new DACA applications to be halted, stopping any new DACA recipients.
Bayor is hoping that the court will rule in favor of DACA like they did in 2019. However, he considers the “conservative Supreme court, who are very intent on breaking precedents and changing the way we do things,” likely to rule against the program.
The termination of the DACA program would lead to the removal of these recipients from their homes and uproot them from the lives they have built in this country. The future of this program has been uncertain since its creation, and the Supreme Court’s decision would end the years of uncertainty in regards to the program.
