First Focus

Two Years: DACA’s Achievements Continue

June 19, 2014

By Eleazar Gutierrez, First Focus Intern Associate

This week we celebrate the two year anniversary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals( DACA) program. DACA provides certain DREAM Act- eligible youth a two- year reprieve of deportation and the ability to obtain a social security cards and work authorization. In the past two years over 673,00 young people have applied to the program and more than 553,000 have been approved. DACA has allowed eligible young adults to improve their lives, increasing their economic and educational opportunities.

Over the last two years a growing number of undocumented youth have experienced the benefits of this program. A new research brief released earlier this week by the National UnDACAmented Research Project (NURP) provides a better understanding of how DACAmented youth’s lives have improved through the assistance of DACA. A total of 2,687 respondents completed the survey. Since receiving DACA these youth describe as becoming more “ integrated” into our nations social and economic institutions. The findings of the study reveal that nearly 60 percent of recipients have obtained new jobs, a mere 50 percent have opened their first bank account, 57 percent have obtained their drivers license and 45 percent increased their job earnings. Three fourths of the respondents live in low-income household as well as growing up in a two-parent household.

These findings demonstrate that DACA has significantly benefited those students with the most education. Respondents who have already obtained a bachelors degree were more than 1.5 times to obtain new jobs and increase their earnings in comparison to their peers with no college experience. NURP respondents expressed that with DACA’s assistance they have been able to obtain valuable career training through internship s, opportunities. One fifth of these respondents obtained internships in connection to their colleges and universities.

Undocumented students work tiring gruesome hours of manual labor worrying about how they would be able to pay for school. DACA has supported these students in financing their higher education. Allowing them to focus on their studies and explore different career opportunities. These youth continue to achieve a post secondary education but are sometimes forced to leave college for a certain period of time due to the fact that DACA does not override current federal and state exclusions from financial aid. This economic obstacle has affected 42 percent of NURP respondents who reported not completing their plan of study within the time planned due to having limited finances and family responsibilities.

The statistics speak for themselves; DACAmented youth continue to succeed through the economic obstacles. As I graduated last week from California State University, Bakersfield I will never forget and forever treasure the happiness of celebrating the achievements of my fellow classmates, many of whom have been DACA recipients. They have serve as an inspiration too me because they never gave up on their dreams. After a journey of struggles they finally obtained what they had been dreaming and working for all these years, a Bachelors degree. Many of them were first generation university graduates. They are now are able to apply to their dream jobs, work for non- profits they are passionate about and receive the pay they deserve. The assistance of DACA has opened doors of opportunities for them by allowing them to make their dreams become a reality.

As we celebrate the two-year anniversary of the implementation of DACA and it’s continued success it is also important to remember that DACAmented youth continue to fear family separation. Seventy six percent of the respondent’s reported that they continue to be worried about people they know being deported. The separation of families remains an injustice, and the fight is not over. We will continue united.