DACA Dreams

On June 15th, 2012, former President Barack Obama gave a speech in the Rose Garden of the White House. The purpose of his speech was to announce his new executive order, the Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA in short. This order allowed young illegal immigrants to apply for a work permit and not have to worry about being deported. These immigrants, often referred to as Dreamers, could continuously renew this work permit as they awaited full citizenship. The American public had mixed feelings on the executive order. Many people praised the act, as they believed that DACA represented the highly-coveted idea of the American Dream. Others weren’t as impressed. News organizations and politicians alike called out then-President Barack Obama, believing DACA to be unconstitutional. For the past several years, DACA has led to many young immigrants getting the chance to pursue their dreams in the United States, giving them access to education and jobs. On September 5th, 2017, President Donald Trump announced that DACA was being eliminated. The government stopped accepting applications and required all current Dreamers to renew their applications by October 5th, 2017.

This announcement led to a media firestorm. Hashtags like #defenddaca and #dacadreamers could be found on Twitter’s trending page. Activist accounts flooded Instagram with stories of Dreamers and family members of Dreamers. Once again, DACA was a split issue. Most Republicans were excited for its removal, while Democrats begged President Trump to reconsider. The fate of the DACA still remains undecided, though, as President Trump has given Congress six months to find some way to replace it. It has been reported from multiple sources that President Trump is considering an alternative plan instead of completely cutting the program. It is unclear at this point on how Congress might prepare a replacement plan. Until we receive some actual word on the state of DACA, I suppose we’ll just have to keep dreaming.

Works Cited

https://www.uscis.gov/archive/consideration-deferred-action-childhood-arrivals-daca

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/crucial-495-fee-deadline-looms-daca-immigrants-so-givers-step-n802516

https://unitedwedream.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/daca_featured.jpg

#september #DACA #defenddaca #president #executiveorder #illegalimmigration