What Should Be Done About “Dreamers”?

            DACA has been around for ten years, but no one is celebrating because no permanent solution has been found. Mya Jaradat explained that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) “allows some of those who were brought to America by undocumented parents to stay in the country legally and work.” However, “the policy excludes many people in similar circumstances – sometimes even siblings. This situation leads to mixed-status families that live under threat of losing immediate family members to deportation.” 

            DACA is a program that was put in place under President Barack Obama. Participants in the program are also known as “Dreamers.” They do not have a path to citizenship, and they tend to live in the “shadows” of American life. However, they can attend college or university but without the benefit of federal financial aid. Some states withhold the privilege of driver’s licenses, and they are limited in their choice of professions because they cannot meet the requirements for certification due to their temporary status.

            “Dreamers” have been in limbo since the early days of DACA. Some religious leaders are pushing the government to find “bipartisan solutions that will give DACA holders permanent status.” DACA recipients and their families are uncertain about their future in the United States. Their families include “hundreds of thousands of U.S.-citizen children.” Other religious leaders work for “wide scale immigration reform.” A recent poll by the National Immigration Forum had the following results:

Asked about the potential for bipartisan efforts to “strengthen border security, create a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children and ensure a legal, reliable workforce for America’s farmers and ranchers,” 79% of Americans said they support such initiatives….. Most of those surveyed – 72% -- said they would like to see this happen before November 2022 midterm elections.

The same survey found that 81% of white evangelicals – a group that is often depicted as hostile to immigration – said they would support work on a bipartisan package that addresses the three issues of DACA, border security and migrant farmworkers…. Almost the same number of evangelical Protestants support a bipartisan initiative for immigration reform.

            I do not support any initiative that rewards illegal entry into the United States with citizenship. However, I could support making the “Dreamers” legal residents. Nevertheless, I believe that the border must be secured first.