Let the Dreamers Dream On How would you feel if someone promised you something, but then changed their mind? If you were told you were safe, but the rug was pulled out from under you? Over a half million teenagers and young adults who illegally immigrated to the United States as minors were recently confronted with this reality. DACA, an act passed during Obama’s term that protected them from deportation, was rescinded by the Trump administration on September 5, 2017. After these people, known as Dreamers, had begun to come out of hiding to legally obtain jobs, attend college, and live without fear of deportation, this rescission suddenly suspended their dreams. Now their future is in the hands of Congress. Although many people would like to eject this group, statistics are in favor of their continuing residence. The Dreamers comprise a diverse and valuable group that deserves to stay in the United States. They are not a threat to the United States, nor a financial burden. …show more content…
Understandably, negative views towards this group may result. However, DACA recipients don’t meet this stereotype. According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, if an applicant has been convicted of a felony, a significant misdemeanor, three or more misdemeanors, or is deemed a threat to national security, they will not be considered for DACA status. Even after receiving DACA status, the criminal rates are lower. According to the Cato Institute, Dreamers had an incarceration rate of .98 percent in contrast to a native rate of 1.12 percent. As the statistics show, they are no more dangerous than the average person. This group of people has often been misrepresented and judged as dangerous and untrustworthy, but this is a clear
With the recent decision to end DACA, made by the Trump administration, the future of “dreamers” are now in the hands of Congress. The administrations’ decision to put an end to the program that protects nearly 800,000 undocumented immigrants from deportation is immoral and outright unjust. It is at tough times like this that I believe one should turn to faith and prayer rather than lose hope completely. Congress now has the responsibility of deciding how 800,000 people will live their lives for the next couple of years. These dreamers being protected from deportation by DACA consist of students and hardworking tax payers alike. Regardless of Congress’ decision to end or reform, all dreamers must keep their faith alive and not lose hope.
DACA was created by the Obama administration in June of 2012 with the vision to relief deportation and giving protection to foreign minors who entered the country illegally so that they could stay, work and get education without being deported to their country of origin. DACA has been entitling to controversy and uncertainty since the Trump administration because this action provides the recipients the opportunity to receive a two year renewable deferral of deportation, a work permit and benefits provided by the government. This action has been rescind by the President Donald Trump on September of 2017; more than 800,000 recipients (known as DREAMers) are left with concerns, worriers and fears of being deported to their country of birth because their families, education, friends and life is here in The United States.
There are roughly 800,000 people living within the United States that is under the protection of an executive order during the Obama administration called Deferred Action Against Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. These children, commonly referred to as “Dreamers,” have grown up in the United States. They attended elementary school here, many graduated high school here, and many went on to become successful adults living in the United States, but as of September 5th, 2017 the DACA program was shut down by the Trump administration, pending a trial in Congress. This means that those hundreds of thousands of individuals living under the DACA arm will no longer be legal residents in the United States.
As said in the article A Dream Deferred “It allows me to blend into society every way” (A Dream 13). As a citizen I would not understand the struggle that the DACA students go through , but i still believe that they should should keep it because sending a student , family member , or employees to a country that they don't even remember or want to go back to just seems like a nightmare to go through. Also tearing a family apart because of getting rid of a program just seem inhuman to me. I believe if these students or members of this program are paying their taxes, going to school, and following the rules they should be able to stay in the US. Now that Trump is trying to get rid of DACA there are a lot more challenges to getting into the US. Right now Trump is only allowing The Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico to the DACA because of the fact that they got hit by the hurricanes. But those aren't the places that they most students come from , the most students come from Mexico , Honduras , and Guatemala. Mexico is actually the biggest by far applicants. In the article A Dream Deferred it says “In the five years since they were
This program allows children brought to America illegally to obtain driver’s license, enroll in college, find legal jobs, pay income taxes, and also serve in the military without the fear of being deported to their country. More than thousands of people could lose their jobs if DACA is taken away forever. It could also cause more than 800,000 dreamers to be uncertain about their future and the possibility of being deported. Following is a Juan Escalante’s story of how and why his family he decided to come to America with his family. “I remember the day I found out I was undocumented. I got a call from an admissions office from a university I had applied to. They wanted to see a green card. I was extremely embarrassed. My mother just started crying. She just started apologizing and told me that it was her fault and that she wanted a better future of us.”. When Juan Escalante was 11 years old, his family and him came to the United States from Venezuela, where life had become dangerous. “We were driving and we stopped at a red light. A man approaches our car and he told my
These Dreamers did not choose to be brought to the United States, but now that they are here, they must find a way to move forward in life. Jesus Contreras is a paramedic who lives in Houston, Texas. He was brought here as a kid from Mexico, and is part of the DACA program. He provided assistance in the relief after Hurricane Harvey in August of 2017. In an interview with BBC, Contreras says “I’ve never considered going back to Mexico. Everything I have, everything I’ve planted, my faith my religion, my friends are all here in the United States.” Dreamers like Contreras do not have lives in Mexico. They grew up here in the U.S. and have taken part and contributed to society here. Life in Mexico is very difficult at the time, which is why many flee to the United States. There is a lot of violence and crime making it not the best place to have a family. As of November 2017, Mexico has had a nationwide total of 20,878 murders within the year, that is an average of 69 murders per day (Torres). Mexico has become a very dangerous place, which is why many of the Dreamers were brought to the U.S. If the Dreamers are sent to Mexico, they will be in a place they not only do not know, but will also be in greater danger than if they were in the U.S. A lot of what our society is built on is education and schooling. It is fundamental in our development as people and as a nation. Through DACA, these Dreamers are able to attend schooling and learn how to give back to society. In 2010,
In the United States, many families are currently being affected by the Dream Act’s failure to pass. The Dream Act would have given many undocumented children the ability to have a pathway to citizenship. The Dream Act believed in the importance of social support within the family by supporting family unification. However, due to its failure to pass, millions of undocumented children are now at risk of being deported and having their families divided. Although the U.S. government created a new policy known as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), it is not providing immigrants with the same opportunity. DACA instead give undocumented people the opportunity to not be deported for a maximum of three years, but will never become a pathway to permanent citizenship. The Dream Act and DACA ultimately affects the physiological, emotional, and mental health of the immigrants who reside within the U.S.
Eric Hoffer once said, “It almost seems that nobody can hate America as much as Native Americans. America needs new immigrants to love and cherish it.” Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) was an American immigration policy passed by President Barrack Obama administration on June 15th, 2012 that permitted minors, also known as Dreamers, to enter the nation with no legal status. President Donald Trump has rescinded the DACA policy, that protected 800,000 immigrants, as of September 5th, 2017. The reversal of this policy will only serve to separate families, deny children much needed medical care, and limit their educational opportunities.
The sixteen-year history of the DREAM Act has been futile — despite various sponsors and versions and dozens of votes, the bill has failed again and again. In June 2012, President Barack Obama issued the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Act, or DACA (Alcindor and Gay Stolberg), with the hope that eventually Congress would pass the DREAM Act. The executive action would “lift the shadow of deportation from these young people”, a generation of people known as DREAMers who were brought to the United States illegally as children, and grant work-authorization papers (Friedersdorf). Note that this action does not grant legal status. On September 5, 2017, the Trump administration rescinded the order leaving the more than 800,000 DREAMers unprotected, unable to attend higher education and unable to work legally. With six months until the rescission is fully active, Congress will be forced to decide on the DREAM Act
After hearing the news, I felt as if my worries were crawling right back up to my shoulders. As if I was at the top of the mountain and then had someone push back down. Finding out that the Senate has plans to take down the DACA was as if they were closing the doors to my success. As the Congress debates over immigration reform, August the 15th marks the second anniversary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. On the 15th of August 2012, President Obama began a policy calling for deferred action towards certain young individuals who came to the United States as children and are known as Dreamers(LOGOS). This policy allows this group of people to have similar rights that are initially reserved for the citizens of the United States, like applying for employment or having a social security. The Daca program also secures the young dreamers from deportation.
With the credentials that they obtain from university, the recipients of the program are worlds ahead of where they would have been without DACA. In the same study by the Center for American Progress, it was determined that DACA moved 50,000 to 75,000 unauthorized immigrants into employment and thus improved their income. The respondents of the survey reported that sixty-nine percent of them had moved to a job with better pay, and fifty-four percent of them had gone to a job better fit for their education. Overall, with DACA, ninety-one percent of the respondents in the survey that had received DACA were in a position of employment (Giovanni 1). Due to the fact that the income of the DACA recipients was increased because of employment opportunities, the Dreamers are able to purchase homes. The employment opportunities provided for Dreamers through DACA are able to benefit them in a way that allows for national
There are 800,000 undocumented immigrants protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) passed by President Obama. Those persons known as Dreamers were brought illegally to the United States at a young age by their parents. Now they have pursued careers, started families, they have contributed to the United States of America, our country, their country. But on Tuesday, September 5th, 2017, the former president Donald Trump ended this program, leaving thousands of families with the uncertainty that if they will be back together again or not. Dreamers have brought pride to this country, they have been admitted into the best universities, they have received the best scholarships such as Bill Gates scholarship. DACA’s deadline is October 5th; this is the last opportunity for the Dreamers to continue with their right to pursue their education. Dreamers have to stay in the United States and be legal citizens because they have spent their whole life here, they help the U.S. economy, they bring cultural diversity to the country, the Dreamers as their name states want to achieve the American dream by pursuing a better education.
Discuss how your understanding of change has been developed by your prescribed and related texts.
Dreams have been around since the beginning of time. There is often controversy over whether or not dreams are important or meaningless. Although many people believe that dreams are pointless and have no meanings to them, research and experimentation show that there can be many different interpretations of dreams.
Lately, society had been going through many controversial issues and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is one of the most recent issues that has made a pause in many people’s life. This issue is affecting more than being beneficial to our society, it is threatening many futures that are in our society, including my future because I’m a DACA recipient. I was brought to America in 1997 when I was six years old and have not seen my citizen country since then. Thousands of people are not asking for something impossible, we are just asking for an opportunity to demonstrate that we can contribute to this country. DACA should be restored because the DACA recipients aren’t breaking any laws and are actively contributing to America. There needs to be a change discontinuing DACA because the whole society is being affected.