Imagine being a dreamer and being told to go back to a country that you don’t know much about. “Dreamers” are people who were brought to this country by their parents at a very young age. The United States is a place that many people come to for more opportunities and for a better life for themselves and their family. On June 15, 2012, the Obama administration put into effect DACA. DACA or the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals is a policy that has let many young adults achieve their dreams. This policy gives people, who came to the United States as children, a chance to go to college, get a job and gives them other opportunities in this country. Dreamers are those people who are undocumented but under DACA cannot be deported back to their birth country. In order to qualify for DACA, the undocumented immigrant must meet certain requirements which are that, “ They must be under 31 years old as of June 15, 2012, they must have lived in the United States continuously from June 15, 2007 to the present, must have been 16 years old or younger when brought to this country, physically present in the United States on June 15, 2007 and at the time of the application, not be convicted of any felony, have come to the United States without documents before June 15, 2007 and be in school, have graduated from high school or have a GED” (Procon). Unfortunately, many people are against this policy and believe it should be abolished. The problem with ending this policy is that those dreamers would be at risk of being deported and taken back to a country that they know nothing about. They would be taken back to a country where they might not even speak the country’s language or know any people. In 2017, former president Donald Trump announced that he wanted to end the Deferred Action for Childhood arrivals program. This was bad news for many because about 800,000 people in the United States are dreamers. Many people were devastated about this because this can mean having to leave dreams, family and a whole life behind. No one should be in fear of getting deported back to a country that they were born in but have no knowledge about. Opponents of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals believe that these people are lawbreakers and having DACA only encourages more illegal immigration. DACA and the Dream Act should not be abolished because this policy helps undocumented immigrants achieve their dreams like getting an education and a job, ending it would separate families and this policy doesn’t only help Dreamers, it also helps the U.S. economy.
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals has helped many undocumented immigrants get a job or go to college and live a normal life in the United States without having to worry about getting deported. This policy has opened the doors for many who have always dreamed of getting an education or even just have a job just like anybody else. The UCLA’s Center of Labor Research and Education argued that although undocumented students don’t always have the same access as legal U.S. citizens, they often perform very well in school and many are honor students, student leaders, and athletes with high academic achievement” (Canal 2017). Dreamers take advantage of the opportunity they are being given and they try their best at school. They may not have the same resources but they still try their best. DACA recipients aren’t at fault for coming to this country because, as said before, in order to qualify for DACA, you must have been brought to this country before you were sixteen years of age. One of the main things that this policy has helped with is being able to give the chance to these people so that they can go to college and get an education. There’s about 800,000 dreamers that live in the United States thanks to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Donnelly 2018). It’s a very big number of people and ending DACA would only mean that all those people’s future would be at risk. These people aren’t even doing anything bad to this country, they are just here for better opportunities that might not be given to them at their birth country. According to Kari Hong, “In the five years since the program was enacted, 800,000 young adults seized the opportunity it provided them: 95 percent are currently employed or in school, 70 percent had gone to college, 12 percent bough a home and 6 percent started a business” (Hong 2017). These statistics show that DACA recipients took advantage of this opportunity given to them by becoming successful. People may think that, “Immigrants are criminals,” but how can someone who is in this country, achieving their dreams while not committing any crimes be labeled like this? Without DACA, these 800,000 Dreamers would not have been able to achieve any of these things like graduating, starting a business, and buying a house. Dreamers could be the future of America.
Another reason why DACA is very important and should not be removed is that ending this policy would be inhumane and would send people back to a country that they know nothing about. Most dreamers have no remembrance of life in their birth countries, have not encountered with any of their family in those countries and may not speak the language of the country (Procon). The parents of these people brought their children to the United States for a better life because that is what the United States is all about. Everyone dreams about the American Dream and although these people might not have made the best choice of coming here illegally, they didn’t come here with bad intentions. It would be inhumane to end this policy because DACA recipients are being denied opportunities in America because they don’t have a document to prove they’re legal citizens of the United States. Also many families would be separated if DACA was to be removed. Many dreamers have most of their family here in the United States. It’s cruel to punish someone who came to this country without his/her consent. “These young people have been living out the dreams that compelled their parents to risk so much to bring them here in the first place” said Stein (Knopf 2017). The people under the DACA program have basically lived in the U.S. their whole life. They’re being blamed for being brought to this country as children only because their parents wanted what was best for them and to be able to provide them with all their needs. No one deserves to have opportunities taken away from them mostly when these Dreamers did not ask to come to this country. Sending thousands of Dreamers back to their home country would cost a lot of money, too. Since the number of immigrants is very big, people argue that sending all these immigrants back to their country would be very hard and would be uncontrollable (Nakaya 71). Having DACA removed also removes the dreams of many young adults. Everyone should be able to experience the American Dream but how is it going to be possible for Dreamers when people are trying to remove the only way they had to succeed.
Not only does DACA help many dreamers, it also helps the United States’ economy. The U.S. economy has improved and without immigrants this wouldn’t have happened. Dreamers play a huge role in the United States. They pay taxes, work and do the typical stuff an American does. It’s not fair for people to say that “Immigrants steal jobs,” when these immigrants are just trying to provide for themselves. DACA recipients are able to be here in the United States but that does not mean they get special treatment. According to Hong, in 2013 undocumented immigrants paid $11.8 billion in Federal and Stats taxes, which helped pay for all of our retirement benefits” (Hong 2017). Not only are they contributing to the economy by paying taxes, they are also helping pay for those going into retirement. The more people in the United States, the more money that can go into the retirement. If dreamers were to get deported, there wouldn’t be enough workers to pay for our retirement. “In 1950, there were 150 workers for every 20 seniors; in 2000 there were 100 workers for every 20 seniors; without immigration, in 2050 there will only be 56 workers for every 50 retirees”(Hong 2017). Another benefit for the United States is that dreamers tend to be higher skilled for jobs. This means that they will take the jobs that people are not wanting. The American Action Forum determined that newcomers provide $1 trillion to our gross domestic product (Hong 2017). This is a huge contribution the United States.
On the other hand, people say that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals should be abolished. This policy may make people believe that it’s okay to come to the United States illegally. It only encourages more illegal immigration and makes it seem OK. American has more opportunities and offers a better life but people should come here doing things right. People may argue that they should become citizens and should not commit a crime by coming here illegally. It’s unfair for dreamers to have the same opportunities as actual citizens of the United States. Some argue that because of dreamers, citizens get less financial help. They come to the United States as lawbreakers and take the jobs of others. Advocates of terminating the program argue that ending it could give lawmakers the chance to begin a better immigration reform and stop trying to fix the problem by coming up with executive orders (Donnelly 2018). However, it’s not the dreamers fault that they were brought to this country. They have goals just like everyone else and it’s cruel to call them lawbreakers when they came to this country at such a young age. It’s not their fault that they are just more skilled for certain jobs and people feel threatened by this that they want the dreamers to leave the country. Dreamers pay taxes just like everyone else and although they are able to go to college, they get no financial aid whatsoever. This means that Dreamers have nothing to do with the amount of help that is given to people for college. Dreamers have helped the United States and it’s unfair to want this program abolished.
DACA recipients are dreamers. They dream of having an education, a job and to be able to live the American Dream just like anyone else. No person, undocumented or not, should be prohibited from an education or separated from their family, mostly when they are not at fault for living in this country. Ending DACA would end all those 800,000 people’s dreams. If America is a great nation, why are they wanting to commit an injustice by destroying these people’s hopes and dreams? It’s hard to imagine having to go back to a country that some may not feel welcomed at. Instead of helping others, Donald Trump is wanting to destroy the dreams of others. Dreamers do make America great.