The Sun Sets on DACA

Donald Trump won the presidency at least in part because he insisted on the need for immigration reform. His efforts to build a wall traversing our border with Mexico have stalled. However, he has recently signed an executive order rescinding the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. DACA allowed people who were brought illegally by their parents to stay, provided that they met certain criteria. Is Trump’s new initiative sound? What might his plans reveal about the efficiency of ruling via executive order?

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22 Responses to The Sun Sets on DACA

  1. Kendra Bradley says:

    I completely disagree with this decision. I feel that children that are brought over and have lived their entire life here should be allowed to stay, as long as they don’t commit any illegal activity. If a child is brought here at 6 months old and has lived here throughout their entire life and now have a job and family at 25 years old, why should they be punished because their parents’ decision? This is surely going to tear apart families and cause turmoil for innocent people just making an honest living.

  2. Kaelon McNeece says:

    I disagree with the termination of DACA. Trump’s initiative to end DACA isn’t sound in the slightest. Many people within the immigrant youth rely on DACA in order to receive protection from deportation as well as a legal permit to work. The decision to cut off these reliefs was most likely made in order to protect American jobs as well as the U.S. economy, but neglecting to support immigrants who had no choice in where they settled as children is heartless. Trump’s decision is a direct act against the liberties of an innocent group of people in order to provide a substantial gain for American citizens.

    Trump’s executive order is unnerving and shows how inefficient it can be to attempt to rule by the brute force of executive power. Thankfully, enforcement of DACA’s removal has been delayed for six months which will allow Congress to override Trump’s decision or reconstruct a better replacement. The attempted doing away of DACA which will quite possibly be undone casts a clear example of the inefficiency of ruling through executive order with an unpopular opinion. Many members of the U.S. Government can and will strive to undo actions they disagree with as shown by these recent events.

    External Sources:
    https://undocu.berkeley.edu/legal-support-overview/what-is-daca/
    https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/consideration-deferred-action-childhood-arrivals-daca
    http://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/03/trump-dreamers-immigration-daca-immigrants-242301

  3. Thu-Hash-Slangin-Poodler says:

    In yonder ages of yore, in the breadth of those illustrious empires, taken to great enterprises, glorious battles, machinations spun of that fine cloth fashioned of the resplendent glory of antiquity, ever deign to assimilate those dregs of human kind who found themselves sundered from their family in that empires wake. Those outcasts of society, whose skin rendered them disparate to the glorious people who brought pitch and sword to once great town, shattering primeval walls to add the yoke of their regal thrown unto those conquered retches. Would not such a thing run diametrically opposed to the continuity of such a glorious nation state? The answer equally yea and nay in kind. For, you see, it was never the pigment of these pigmy’s skins which daunted the heart of those otherwise disposed to warm embrace, no, tis’ the discrepancy of these cultures which incited those, our forbears, at this notion. Today nothing has changed. Habit implacable, still we reject those who we would otherwise embrace to maintain the sanctity of our culture, yet prithee you think. Tis’ but children offered we. Accept them? Yea! They are fellow Americans, easily assimilated. They can bare you no harm to thine culture. They will be as American as you if the time is spent well on them! This is what any rational man may divine with his own eyes, after this fact tis only but prejudice of skin that you have cause to renege on the word of our government and reject these, prospects of our proud fatherland.

  4. Lane Hughes says:

    This seems like a problem that can be addressed with a simple “Why?” As in, why should people’s children be punished for their parents misdeeds? So long as the people here aren’t going around raping and pillaging towns, or something of that nature, why should we kick them out? Honestly, this seems like another immigration media stunt to stir up the masses for popularity, but no stunt is worth deporting people from their lives.

  5. Tija J. says:

    “I have a great heart for the folks we’re talking about, a great love for them” These words stated by Trump are, in my opinion, a contradiction to what he based is campaign on. Throughout his campaign, we all heard that he planned to build a wall. The main reason was to keep these immigrants out of the country. Now you’re saying that you love those same people whom you were trying to keep out. (Doesn’t add up) It is not the child’s fault that (s)he was brought to a country, grew up in a country, and possibly loved a country that has a president who is passionate about sending them back to countries they may not know. I’m aware of possible scenarios that could happen due to immigrants, so I understand the hesitation of some to allow citizenship but that doesn’t make it right. I’m not saying that we should ignore the possible problems but we shouldn’t operate in fear. This country is powerful enough to handle anything thrown at them (most of the time),so there’s no reason not to allow those who have been here to become a citizen. At the end of the day, these are PEOPLE who are trying to aid a country that seems not to care about them.

  6. Loveish Sarolia says:

    The DACA allowed children of families who were illegally brought to the United States to have a fighting chance against children in their home countries. The children often are unable to fluently speak English so as a result they fall behind in their education and lose out on many opportunities that native English speakers gain. Although the DACA has not been full rescinded and is currently awaiting Congress’ approval, it will provide an insight to Trump’s plans for his presidency and the direction in which the status of our country is headed. I hope this bill will continue to support children from different countries and eventually a better medium will be created to filter out all the unwanted bigots and riff-raff.

  7. KC says:

    Trump’s initiative is not very sound because there would be no way to deport all of the undocumented Immigrants without missing some. Since the undocumented immigrants are all spread across the country there would be no efficient way to remove them from the country. Also, ruling via executive order would probably not work just because of the fact that there would be a need for military action or some kind of action that would control the whole situation at one time.

  8. President Trump is doing his upmost best to build his wall. That is likely the most probable reason he needed to relinquish the DACA. What he did deprive millions of immigrants a fighting chance to live in America. How could Donald J. Trump be such an amoral and spineless man I call the President of the United States? I hope he realizes that the full construction of the wall will take a long time and would probably be discontinued if he fails to be reelected. These are some dark times we are living in overall. We have a President who has little to no conscience at all along with a hardened heart refusing to compromise until he have his way. I am grateful that Barack Obama was MY President for eight years. Lord knows he will be missed.

  9. Erin Davis says:

    I agree with what the DACA program is doing by allowing children the opportunity to actually strive in America due to circumstances they couldn’t control, but I also believe that their parents knew the risk when they brought their child so ultimately the responsibility falls on the parents. Also, I have a hard time understanding people that know they are illegal yet still continue to stay in America making no effort to make themselves legal, but then get mad if they are deported. And majority of illegal immigrants don’t have bad intentions and cause no trouble but one bad apple spoils the bunch, so if they were doing absolutely no harm I don’t see the problem but it’s the couple of people that ruin it for everyone and makes Trump’s extreme measures necessary. But it is still too early to determine if Trump’s initiatives are sound.

    • Arin Kelly says:

      I agree with what Erin is saying. Parents do know the risk of bringing their children into the US illegally. I feel that the reason Trump cancelled DACA was almost a warning and he wanted to send a message. That being said, I do disagree with the withdrawal of the DACA policy. It is unfair to the children who could not make this choice for themselves. I feel Trump acted too strongly too quickly.

  10. Jackie Ward says:

    I do not agree with Trump’s cancellation of the DACA policy. These children were most likely living in a poverty environment and had limited access to a good education or food or even clean water. Their parents risked literally everything to provide a better life for their children, and now that dream is dead. I agree that we need to have a better border control, mainly due to the trafficking of drugs and illegal items across the border, but if these parents are willing to risk everything to help their children, then what’s wrong with that?

  11. Liz Huynh says:

    Just like the majority opinion, I do not agree with Trump decision. As the country with the largest economy in the world, foreigners migrate to US in search for the “American Dream”. Many discard U.S immigrations law to enter the US. I understand that these people committed crime. There is no justification for their action, and they should be punished due process of law. However, I do believe that the children who followed their parents should be pardon from removal. The criteria to become an applicant is that the person must arrive in US under the age of 16. Children are incapable of making their own decisions. Therefore, it is not a child’s crime to follow his or her guardians. Also, Aliens will experience severe difficulties integrating to their home countries: no family ties, no language knowledge, etc. Thus, Removal can make one’s life a “living hell. DACA is one of the best solution I have heard so far in dealing with unlawful immigrants. DACA provide opportunities for aliens to have a better quality of life, and in turn can support the state.

    Thankfully, US have 3 government branches, which crosscheck each other’s actions to ensure justice of the US Constitution. If efficiency means the quick process of enforcing a rule made by a president, then I would say it is not efficient, because the law must be pass by the Judicial Court.

  12. Lori Feng says:

    DACA was created as an executive order under the Obama administration as a temporary solution to immigration issues because Congress had not reached a consensus regarding immigration reform. However, because it was an executive order, Trump was able to rescind DACA, demonstrating that executive orders are efficient as under one administration, but they do not make effective long term decisions. However, the decision to repeal DACA will prove to be a costly one for the United States.

    The main argument for the repeal of DACA is best summarized by Attorney General Jeff Sessions when he states that DACA denies jobs to “hundreds of thousands of Americans by allowing those same illegal aliens to take those jobs.” However, many believe otherwise.

    The notion that DACA workers “steal” jobs away assumes that there is a fixed amount of work available, which is the lump of labor fallacy. A higher population actually creates more jobs. In addition, “[the United States] is at full employment with more job openings than at any point in history…we desperately need workers in this country.” In fact, DACA workers make the economy more productive, as “workers in the DACA program tend to be younger, better educated, and more highly paid than the typical immigrant,” and the “DACA population [looks] a lot like people who get H-1B visas (visas for “high-skilled” workers).” The loss of productive DREAMers would result in a reduction of US gross domestic product by $433 billion over the next ten years.

    Though the DACA program was intended to be a temporary solution, repealing it without a replacement seems to be a rash decision which will lead to devastating consequences.

  13. Helen Peng says:

    DACA was created under the Obama administration to address the situation of the children of illegal immigrants. Before DACA was created, Congress had not clarified how people who had not willfully illegally immigrated to the US should be treated. As a response to Congress’s lack of initiative, Obama’s executive order stated that children of illegal immigrants would not be deported and instead could be offered a working license in the U.S, provided that they had met certain criteria.

    Trump’s signing says that they are not going to follow this policy anymore. Not only is this a cruel move, but it a largely unjust one was well. The US government gave a promise to DACA recipients that they would be safeguarded, and Trump is now putting them in a unfair situation that gives his administration a reason to deport them while also emphasizing the temporary nature of executive orders. DACA recipients received background checks before the could receive working license. And in terms on “stealing jobs”, DREAMER’s, if anything, have added to our nations production as they are younger and oftentimes well educated. DREAMER’s are people who have grown up in America, been immersed in the America culture, speak the language, and are really only missing the label. There is no reason that they should be deported out of the country that many of them have only ever known and even call home. These people aren’t the dangerous criminals Trumps seems to be fighting against; they are good people, many of whom went to fight for our own country after receiving their licenses. At this point their future is quite uncertain.

  14. Kiera Monroe says:

    As a temporary solution to illegal immigration, DACA was created executively under Obama’s administration. Unless Trump can replace DACA with another legal structure, then I do not understand the reason he signed for DACA to be thrown away. For him to do that, especially to innocent children who did not make the decision for their parents to be here, is cruel. Also, Trump has not only crossed personally boundaries of many diverse groups of people, but also, the political structure of having branches of government. Not only does Trump not realize that there are repercussions to his thoughtless actions(maybe he just do not care), but also that his actions not only affect him, but his country. Several other countries, both allies and enemies, look at our leader and are disgusted and offended.

    External Sources:
    http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/09/11/pope-francis-takes-swipe-at-trump-over-daca-decision.html

  15. Anonymous says:

    The DACA was setup to protect young immigrants who had no say so in the circumstances they were implemented in. I feel Donald Trump rescinding the DACA is wrong and I strongly disagree with it. The children of immigrants had no control of being placed in the United States. It makes Trump look heartless and simple minded. The basis for which he chose to do this is still unclear to me. The DACA gives relief from deportation. This program gives those a chance at life, and not the adherence to a kind of unjust they, frankly, do not deserve. If they grew up in the United States, why take them from the only place they know as home?

  16. Indu Nandula says:

    The eradication of DACA has come quite abruptly. As stated in the prompt, Trump was successful in his campaign by promising that immigration reforms would occur in order to better the United States, or in his very words, “Make America great again.” That said, revoking DACA can almost be considered a form of evil. Despite it being illegal, people go through hell in order to provide their children, their families, and even themselves, with better opportunities. Fighting through the oppression and poverty of their homes countries, immigrants come to the United States for the promise of a new life, a new hope, even a new beginning. And then, to tell them that all of their struggles were futile? This is almost comparable to Steve Harvey’s error at the Miss Universe pageant in 2015. Drawn out of their home countries by the promise of living the American Dream, numerous people flock to America, a safe haven for different cultures, or so they thought. Children who come here have their whole lives ahead of them. Does their immigration status justify turning them away? And how will this affect our nation’s image as a whole? The United States have been considered anything but great ever since the inauguration of our new leader. This decree goes on to show that executive order has absolutely no order or efficiency associated with it, and thankfully, our government doesn’t work in such a way.

  17. Hamilton Wan says:

    The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program was created under an executive order by former President Barack Obama’s administration to allow undocumented immigrants who were unwillingly brought to the United States when they were children by their parents to apply for deferred action for deportation. DACA has thus far created positive ends for the United States. Trump’s relatively recent abrogation of DACA has been a very controversial decision that will likely harm the United States in the future.

    First, DACA has brought the United States billions of dollars in terms of productivity and taxes. For example, a January 2017 CATO Institute study predicts that repealing DACA will cost the United States $280 billion in terms of lost economic growth over the next decade and $60 billion for deportation of these DACA recipients alone. [1] Further, a July 21, 2017 Fortune article notes that DACA immigrants contribute $24.6 billion in terms of Social Security and Medicare taxes. [2] At the end of the day, the data clearly corroborates that DACA recipients have been beneficial to the US economy, and any effort to deport them would harm the economy.

    Many of those who oppose DACA argue that DACA recipients compete against other Americans for jobs. However, this is not necessarily true. In fact, the data suggests the opposite: DACA workers actually make the economy more productive. According to the NPR in September 2017, DACA recipients are more likely to get a college education and look for high-skill jobs, which in turn increases economic productivity; the article also notes that since the college-educated population has a much lower rate of unemployment, the bulk of DACA recipients are not really competing against American workers for jobs. [3]

    President Trump’s ability to repeal President Obama’s executive order demonstrates the weakness in ruling through executive order – once the administration changes, many executive orders may be repealed. At the end of the day, despite President Trump’s constant pushes to end undocumented immigration, it will continue to be a controversial issue.

    [1] Albright, I. B. (2017, January 18). The Economic and Fiscal Impact of Repealing DACA. Retrieved September 29, 2017, from https://www.cato.org/blog/economic-fiscal-impact-repealing-daca

    [2] Arce, J. (n.d.). Ending This Immigration Program Would Devastate the Economy. Retrieved September 29, 2017, from http://fortune.com/2017/07/21/daca-dream-act-2017-new-immigration-news/

    [3] Kurtzleben, D. (2017, September 06). FACT CHECK: Are DACA Recipients Stealing Jobs Away From Other Americans? Retrieved September 29, 2017, from http://www.npr.org/2017/09/06/548882071/fact-check-are-daca-recipients-stealing-jobs-away-from-other-americans

  18. Morgan Emokpae says:

    As the child of an immigrant, I could only imagine the hardships and fear that my father endured before marrying my mother. Obama’s 2012 DACA program allowed for approximately 800,000 un-documented people in the US to not have to live under the “shadow of deportation” (Obama) -this shadow of fear. However, Trump’s resending of the program betrays the potential grave consequence involved in the executive order and shown the inefficiency of this type of rule. In implementing his executive order, trump has recast 800,000 dreamers back into a state of uneasiness. Moreover, the order is not sound. The eradication of this bill’s protection means that more undocumented works will be unable to find jobs or effectively work at the ones that they have. This can potential leads to a percentage of American inhabitants not working and unable to provide some necessities for their families. In addition, this bill will tell induvial who have lived in the US all their life to be targeted for deportation in to a country that is foreign to them. This places them back into situation that their parent/ guardians fought to remove them from in hope of a better life. How can US say:
    “Give me your tired, your poor,
    Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
    The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
    Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
    I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
    While not ensuring that the people already living here are accepted?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzYDqQDNFzc (Vox)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65GThGSvVOI (Ny times youtube)

  19. Zion Hargro says:

    I disagree completely with the decision to terminate Obama’s DACA program. Immigrants come from all over the world in hopes living the falsely claimed “American Dream.” They come here in hopes that their children and their children’s children will have a better lie and a better upbringing than they had. As people, we should not knock another person’s dreams and hopes, but encourage them to fulfill all the goals they set out to accomplish here in America. The DACA program allowed mental freedom for approximately 800,000 “child escapees” in the US. These people were finally lifted from the bar that held them due to the possibility of deportation. More than 27% of the American population is immigrant dominated, never mind the percent of immigrant children produced from that percentage. My point is that Trump is a very politically incompetent and heartless person because these people came to America to benefit themselves, and here he is trying everything he can (the wall, banning people from certain countries from entering the U.S.) to stop those now helpless people.

    http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/factcheck/ct-fact-check-daca-20170905-story.html

    http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/frequently-requested-statistics-immigrants-and-immigration-united-states

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