At Its 10th Anniversary, DACA Faces a Tenuous Future Despite Societal Benefits

Muzaffar Chishti, Julia Gelatt, MPI, June 9, 2022

"On June 15, 2012, President Barack Obama stood in the White House Rose Garden and announced a new program that would transform the lives of hundreds of thousands of unauthorized immigrants brought to the United States as children. Titled the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, it was, at the time, seen as a stopgap measure to provide relief to unauthorized immigrant youth after Congress had repeatedly failed to offer a path to legal status for these “Dreamers.” Ten years on, DACA has proven more enduring than expected and remains the only large-scale policy change implemented during this period related to the legal status of unauthorized immigrants in the country.

During this time, more than 800,000 people have benefited from DACA’s grant of protection from deportation and access to work permits and other documentation—permitting expansive new educational and work opportunities. DACA holders have enjoyed broader access to higher education; found new and better jobs; and been able to set down deeper roots, starting families, buying homes, and creating businesses. Beyond allowing DACA recipients to improve their lives and those of their families, these greater opportunities have benefitted the country overall, allowing individuals who have spent most of their lives in the United States to more fully realize their potential, with resulting benefits for employers, public coffers, and communities. DACA also established the government’s ability to quickly stand up a large-scale program and swiftly adjudicate applications.

Nevertheless, in the absence of congressional action to grant permanent relief to Dreamers, DACA remains a stopgap measure—one that stands on tenuous footing. President Donald Trump’s attempt to end DACA and ongoing legal challenges to a president’s authority to make significant immigration policy changes through executive action have left the program on life support. The latest challenge to DACA is likely to reach the Supreme Court, which will decide whether the executive branch has the authority to create such an expansive program. Meanwhile, Congress has repeatedly declined to extend broader protections to Dreamers, making DACA the only available option for qualifying youth to achieve some semblance of legal presence.

This article reviews the evidence on DACA’s impacts, looks at the increased reliance on similar limited legal statuses to help segments of the unauthorized immigrant population, and examines the legal challenges the program has and is continuing to face. ..."