By Alex Kerravala, Staff Writer
As of recent, the Trump Administration announced it will be shutting down the DACA: the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which was a softer version of the DREAM Act of 2001. Congress will be voting on the removal of the DACA, and with a Republican led Congress, the vote may not go in favor of those DREAMers.
The DACA can be a bit confusing; I’ll be honest, I had no idea what it was for the longest time, just that Republicans hate it and it has something to do with immigrants. I had only heard of it as DACA, never the full name spelt out, so I could only assume the leader of the free world knew what he was doing, and the DACA needed to go.
I’m just a college student after all. Who am I to say who belongs in this country?
However, surprise surprise, this is something Trump is making a huge mistake on.
So what IS the DACA, anyways, and who are the DREAMers? The DREAM Act of 2001, which stood for the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors, was a bipartisan bill proposed which provided an opportunity for certain illegal immigrants who arrived in the United States at a young age to attend college and eventually receive citizenship. Despite the plan for the DREAM Act, the DACA does not provide a path to citizenship.
The DACA does not support just anyone, however, and has a rather high eligibility requirement. To qualify for the DACA, an individual must meet the following requirements, although the requirements do not guarantee approval: Arrive at the United States before the age of 16; have lived in the United States since June 15, 2007; Born after June 15, 1981; must be currently attending school, be in school, or were honorably discharged from the military; and not have been convicted of a felony, significant misdemeanor or three other misdemeanors, or otherwise pose a threat to national security.
Even if all these requirements are met, applicants still must be of good moral character according to the approval board. If the DREAMers meet said requirements, and are given access to the DACA, they are given both protection from deportation, as well as a work permit.
The DACA does not provided financial aid or welfare, just an incentive for immigrants of good moral character to stay away from crime, and to attend high school or perhaps a higher education.
The DACA does not fund drug dealers. It doesn’t fund criminals. It doesn’t fund rapists, or gang members, or any of the other rhetorical scum flooding in from Latin America. The DACA doesn’t even “fund” anything really. It provides protection and a work permit to good, upstanding immigrants who may not have even chosen to come here in the first place.
The only real reason any legislator would be against the DACA is race, plain and simple. The only thing the DACA does is create more good, upstanding Americans. This country was built on virtuous, hard working immigrants. Now all of a sudden our leadership wants to prevent immigration. Perhaps because this time around the immigrants are Hispanic, and not European.
The DACA can only possibly benefit those that see America for what it truly is: a land of the free, where hard work and determination is all it takes to make a life for yourself. The DACA is support for more to achieve the American Dream.
The DACA is what is needed to Make America Great Again. Bigotry and handicaps on those virtuous in character won’t help this country, but a new population of hard working, ambitious young adults will.