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Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) was established by executive action by the Obama administration in June 2012, in order to protect those who arrived in the United States as children and did not have U.S. citizenship or legal residency status from deportation. The executive order came at the heels of several failed attempts for comprehensive immigration reform in Congress since 2001. The program grants renewable protection for two years at a time for those who meet certain criteria but does not provide a pathway to citizenship. However, in September 2017, the Trump White House announced its plan to end DACA on the grounds that the program was “unlawful.”
According to a June 2020 survey conducted by Pew Research Center, 74% of Americans favor a law that would provide permanent legal status to immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally as children. Differences were stark along with party affiliations: while 91% of those who identify as Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents favor granting legal status to immigrants who came to the U.S. undocumented as children, the support was found from a little more than half of Republicans and Republican-leaning voters. Support varied by race and ethnicity, as well. Among Hispanics, about eight in ten surveyed expressed support for such a measure, whether the respondent was U.S.-born or an immigrant. Across the demographics, majorities said the same: Black 82%, Asian American 72%, White 69%.
On June 18, 2020, the Supreme Court blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to end DACA in a 5-4 ruling. The ruling emphasizes that the administration failed to provide an adequate reason to justify ending the DACA program. The ruling maintains the program and allows DACA recipients to renew membership, which offers them work authorization and temporary protection from deportation. However, one thing to note is that this ruling was about how the program was rescinded, and not about the program’s legality.
Following the Supreme Court’s decision, a U.S. District Judge in Maryland ruled on July 17, 2020, that DACA be restored to its full status, forcing the Trump administration to accept new DACA applications. On July 24, the same U.S. District Judge ruled that the Trump administration must clarify the program’s status to the public within 30 days, and also instructed the Department of Justice to confirm by July 31 whether the government could commit to updating its U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) website and sending receipts to DACA applicants who are confused about whether their applications have been processed. The Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank, estimates an additional 66,000 young immigrants now meet the minimum age requirement of 15 years to apply for DACA and would be eligible under the restored program.
On July 24, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D, NY-10) and Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship Chair Zoe Lofgren (D, CA-19) sent a letter to President Trump. The letter demands the Administration to comply with the Supreme Court’s June decision protecting the DACA program and begin processing new applications.
The Trump administration announced on July 28 that it will reject new DACA applications. The administration will also shorten the window for current DACA recipients to renew their status from two years to one year. According to the New York Times, officials declined to say how long the review would take or whether it would be completed before the upcoming General Election in November 2020. However, the decision to allow one-year renewals suggested that President Trump and his aides did not envision making another attempt to end the program before this year’s Election.
Of the currently active DACA recipients, more than 6,500 people were born in Korea, which ranks sixth among the countries of birth for all beneficiaries since 2012, higher than any Asian nation. KAGC has been educating community members and members of Congress since 2014 and supported comprehensive immigration reform including DACA. In January 2018, KAGC organized its student partner organizations to host phone banking and letter-writing campaigns on the campus. Through this effort, over 206 phone calls were made to members of Congress from 6 universities across the country. This issue is also included in the Korean American Policy Priorities, published by KAGC every year. Please refer to the button below for more information.
UIUC Phone Banking in January 2018
Korean American Policy Priorities – DACA