What is DACA? What you should know about this immigration measure

What is DACA? What you should know about this immigration measure

DACA is the acronym in English for “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals”, which is the same in Spanish as “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals”.

DACA is the acronym in English for “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals”, which is the same in Spanish as “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals”.

This is an immigration measure taken in 2012 by President Barack Obama, which was intended to benefit migrants who came to the United States as children, and who currently had a certain level of education.

This measure was born in response to the constant difficulty in approving effective immigration reform that would protect those people who had arrived in the United States as children from deportation.

Thanks to this, the Department of Homeland Security issued a memorandum that did not need to be approved by Congress, and in this way, the DACA measure was born.

The idea was to facilitate the documentation process for all those young immigrants who had spent a large part of their lives in the country, also allow them access to higher education and provide them with a better quality of life.

Is DACA still valid?

In 2017, new applications for this program were suspended, as part of the immigration measures taken by the government of Donald Trump, who promised to be more severe with undocumented immigrants.

One of the main reasons why this measure was suspended is that it was considered unconstitutional, since it was not discussed and approved by Congress, but was an action taken exclusively by the executive branch, in this case by Barack Obama.

At the same time, it was established that DACA had indirectly increased the entry of minors at the southern border of the United States; these new immigrants hoped to enter the program and be able to live legally in the country.

This had serious humanitarian consequences for these people and worsened the migration situation throughout the country.

Another excuse for the suspension of this measure was that immigrants began to have access to stable and well-paid jobs, this means that many American citizens were rejected from these jobs due to the new supply of labor from the immigrants.

In general, it was concluded that it was necessary to address the immigration situation in a more effective way, put a limit on the number of immigrants received per year and be stricter with people who want to enter the United States and opt for residency. .

Who does DACA benefit?

The DACA measure has the power to benefit all undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States before the age of 16, and who were under 31 years old on the date of the measure's launch (June 2012).

Approximately 2 million young people met these conditions according to the Migration Policy Institute, however, not all decided to be part of the program, only about 800,000 requests were approved before the average was frozen.

The main reason why more than a million people decided not to be part of that program was fear of a sudden change in immigration policy.

That is, people were afraid that once there was a change in DACA, the authorities could easily locate them due to the personal data they had to leave to enter the system.

As a result, although 2 million people may have benefited, less than half actually did.

What are the differences between being part of the DACA program and having a regular VISA?

DACA is a measure that seeks to prevent the deportation of young undocumented immigrants in the United States who arrived in the country as children.

However, this does not mean that having been part of this program has been the definitive solution to the lack of VISA or residence of these people.