Reason to celebrate: High Court keeps DACA

18th Jun 2020

JULY 12, 2020 UPDATE: In a Telemundo interview Friday, President Donald Trump said he soon would sign an executive order that includes a “road to citizenship” for immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children and protected under the DACA program. There is much debate on what this means exactly, whether such action is legal and whether he will actually do it.

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June 18, 2020 -- There is great reason to celebrate today, with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling 5-4 that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, better known as DACA, shall remain in place. This gives Dreamers a moment to exhale, but the threat of unjust deportation for those Americans in every way except for documentation continues to loom. In that respect, we are still holding our breath. We must change the law and finally  grant full citizenship to Dreamers and offer a pathway to citizenship for all immigrants. We can do so only by electing members to Congress who not only share in this belief, but who are committed to following through on its execution. Dreamers cannot vote but the rest of us can and we must. The future of the nation is in our hands. No more excuses, only action.

At a DACA rally in front of ICE headquarters in Phoenix, Joseph Garcia, who is Executive Director of CPLC Action Fund and CPLC Director of Public Policy, noted that "from a public policy standpoint, DACA is a success." He noted the successes of many DACA recipients who went on to become enginers, lawyers, nurses, business leaders, laborers, teachers and community leaders, as well as serving in the U.S. military. "The failure has been by leadership in Washington, D.C.," Garcia sa`ID`, noting the failure to pass bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform -- including the DREAM Act.

The success of DACA goes beyond its recipients, with the ripple effect impacting the community, state and nation in a positive manner:

DACA Impact by the Numbers

• There are nearly 650,000 DACA recipients in the United States. In Arizona, there are about 24,120 DACA recipients, which ranks sixth among other states. Nevada has about 13,070 DACA recipients, with Texas at 124,300 and New Mexico at 6,815.
• Perhaps 30% of DACA-eligible recipients in Arizona had not applied for DACA recognition as of 2019.
• The vast majority of DACA recipients are of Mexican decent, with about 80% from Mexico; nearly 9% are from Central America.
• More than 600 DACA students graduated from U.S. universities in 2020. In Arizona, nearly a quarter (23%) of adult immigrants had a college degree or more education in 2018. Average age of DACA recipients is 26, with two-thirds between the ages of 21 and 30.
• Many have formed families. There are about 254,000 children born in the U.S. who have at least one DACA parent. Under the U.S. Constitution, any child born in the United States automatically is a U.S. citizen, regardless of their parent’s legal residency status.
• DACA recipients own 56,100 homes and pay $566.9 million annually in mortgage payments. Other DACA recipients pay $2.3 billion in rent.
• In terms of taxes, DACA households in the U.S. pay $5.6 billion in federal taxes and $3.1 billion in state and local taxes. Arizona DACA recipients and DACA-eligible individuals paid an estimated $50.7 million in state and local taxes in 2018.
• Over the last 10 years, DACA workers have contributed nearly $25 billion to Medicare and Social Security, something from which we all benefit. 
• Ending DACA woulf result in a $460 billion loss from our existing GDP base over 10 years. At the same time, there would be an additional $280 billion reduction in future growth above that GDP base resulting from the loss of an expanded workforce.

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, Governing, the U.S. Citizenship Immigration Services, the Center for American Progress, The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.