The economic contributions of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) may end if the program is terminated, with a potential of 1,400 jobs lost each business day, according to a report released today from FWD.us and the Center for American Progress (CAP).
The fate of DACA hangs in the balance as we approach the Sept. 5 deadline issued by 10 attorneys general, including Texan AG Ken Paxton, pressing Trump to end the program or face a lawsuit.
“Over the next decade, the nearly 700,000 DACA recipients in the workforce today have the potential to generate more than $460 million in gross domestic product for our nation. Ending DACA is not only the wrong thing to do for young people who call America home, but it also means shrinking the pie for everyone,” Tom Jawetz, Vice President of Immigration Policy at CAP, said in a press release.
Across Long Island, approximately 10,000 Dreamers have been given temporary relief from deportation, can now legally work, and can also obtain a driver license. These highly vetted individuals have seized the opportunity by becoming assets to the workforce, with 91 percent of recipients finding gainful employment over the past five years.
If DACA recipients cannot renew their deferrals, business across the country will find themselves in the position of having to fire some of their top-performing employees.
If immigration opponents truly want the best and brightest to immigrate to the U.S., they need not look further than the DACA program, which has already paved the way for 55 percent of recipients to purchase a vehicle, with one out of 10 purchasing their first homes.
“DACA was always designed to be temporary, but repealing the program without a process for individuals currently protected by it to continue to live and work in the United States will place an extreme hardship on U.S. businesses, on local communities, and on the American economy,” the report concluded.
