Imagine having the threat of being ripped from the arms of your loved ones come across your mind each and everyday. With DACA recipients still in a state of legal limbo, that is just part of the terror and anxiety that plagues them on a daily basis, according to a survey published this month by the Center for American Progress (CAP).
As CAP wrote:
Among parents, 76 percent reported that they think about “being separated from [their] children because of deportation” at least once a day, and 74 percent think about “not being able to see [their] children grow up because of deportation” at least once a day.
As demonstrated in previous research, the survey also shows the major economic power that Dreamers generate, with 89 percent of 1,050 respondents being employed. Since they have received DACA, 54 percent reported moving to a job with better pay, with the average hourly wage of respondents increasing by 78 percent, from $10.32 per hour to $18.42 per hour. This illustrates the enormous potential for DACA recipients to bolster tax revenue and growth on both regional and national levels.
As previously reported by Long Island Wins, Nassau and Suffolk Counties stand to lose close to $387 million in annual gross domestic product if young workers with DACA were removed from the country’s workforce, according to data published by the USC Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration and CAP.
However, amid a string of legal battles in the federal court circuit, the fate of the lifeline program still remains uncertain.
A still-pending Texas court decision could rule that DACA is unconstitutional, which would contradict earlier, opposing rulings including the most recent one from a Washington D.C. District Court judge that ordered that the program must be restored in full. This combination of factors could likely lead the U.S. Supreme Court to take up DACA for a possible final judicial showdown.
According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, as of July 31, more than 158,000 DACA recipients have applied for two-year renewals since January 10, just after a federal judge ordered the Trump White House to partially restore DACA and accept renewals.
However, CAP has found that renewals have considerably slowed in recent months, and that there are an estimated 64,300 Dreamers whose DACA expires this year who have not yet renewed. Immigrant advocacy groups are urgently recommending that eligible recipients renew immediately.
