Lack of solutions creates uncertainty for DACAs future
America will always be known as the land of opportunity. This is where people come to fulfill their dreams and hope to succeed in whatever they choose to do. While thousands of people travel around the world to reach these goals, certain young immigrants who travel to the United States, referred to as DREAMers, have recently been catapulted into the spotlight in the past few months. The biggest controversy surrounding DREAMers is whether the policy of DACA, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, will continue given the current state of this country and its government.
By the end of 2017, President Donald Trump had decided to end the DACA program. According to The New York Times, President Trump ended the program in September. However, it was argued that this was an overuse of presidential power.
Eventually, President Trump gave in and said that DACA will end soon if Congress does not come up with what he and the government deem a reasonable solution. This is then where the problem lies. Not only has the uncertainty of DACA’s future jeopardized the lives of immigrants here in the U.S., it has caused an uproar within society.
It’s known that the country has been divided and its relationship with its citizens has been strained for a while. It doesn’t help that all of the sudden, people who immigrated here at a young age and have assimilated to our society are not welcome to stay at all. This kicks off a chain of events that puts many DREAMers at risk of deportation. Various news outlets such as CBS News and NPR have reported that all the DACA recipients will lose all benefits available to them on March 5 of this year. Some of these benefits include work permits and being able to legally drive.
One of the biggest criticisms of DACA being taken away is this can ultimately impact people’s lives in a negative way. Again, some DACA recipients had come to live in the U.S. at a very young age. For some, all they know is America and its culture, especially the language. Without DACA, many immigrants could be shoved into societies they know absolutely nothing about. This can be a jarring experience. Also, they will no longer receive the help or dreams they were promised.
Despite all this, nothing has been truly done in order to fix the problem and nothing has been done to help these people stay, even when there is a lot at stake. The lack of resolution from the government is what is most frustrating to deal with when hearing about DACA and what is being lost.
The government has hardly done anything that seems to say that they take this seriously while President Trump had originally told Congress to more or less solve the problem on their own. This was even expressed by his own Twitter page, as he put out into the internet that Congress had better get ready to do their job when referring to DACA. This makes it appear as though immigration is not considered a priority within our government. While some may disagree, the next question is: how long will it take to reach a solution or an agreement? As of right now, there is still no true answer as to what will be done.
However, news has been recently made public that anyone protected by DACA who is enlisted in the military will not be subjected to deportation if no plan is made to keep the program going. Even though this is new information regarding what will happen to DREAMers, nothing has been said about the rest of the program’s recipients. It’s time to solve the issue and stop putting off what needs attention.
Again, lives could be affected and by not saying or doing anything, unfortunate stress is to added to the situation. The only thing left to do is sit and wait to see whose lives will change forever on March 5, 2018.
Marlyn Silva
mhsilva@vwu.edu
