Due to President Donald Trump abolishing the DACA program, many people are distraught. Firstly, what is DACA? Who does it affect? Why is he abolishing it? DACA is the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. It’s an immigration policy established by the Obama administration. Now you may be wondering, what does DACA even do? Well, DACA allows certain illegal immigrants who entered the country as minors to receive a period of deferred action from deportation, along with a permit for working ability. In fact, former President Obama doesn’t have power to override the immigration system, in which DACA is technically illegal. According to Hans A. von Spakovsky, “The unconstitutionality of Obama’s actions were confirmed when Obama tried to implement a second, similar program in 2014 called the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents program, or DAPA. Like DACA, DAPA provided an administrative amnesty for illegal aliens who came to the U.S. as adults and gave them work authorizations and access to government benefits.” The removal of DACA can affect immigrants worldwide, even locals that you may be friends with. Now, is it fair if they are forced to leave? Well if DACA is fully abolished, many people will be affected by this, some are even Page students.
A young male Page High student depicted that if Trump fully follows along with abolishing DACA, then his parents will be taken from him and forced to deport to Mexico. Is it fair to this person, to have to loose their parents? “It would be so hard seeing my parents go, it would be hard to manage myself without them. Not only does DACA affect me, but it affects my parents socially and economically,” says an anonymous source in Page High.
Now it’s narrowed down to the real question: Why does Trump want to diminish the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals? Trump wants to diminish this because he believes that Congress should have the ultimate decision whether the program becomes legal or not. Should they have the right to remain in America?
DACA has changed the lives of many people, helping them gain further education and gain higher diversity, but it is in fact illegal. Now the rest is up to you, do you believe that DACA should remain or should Congress eliminate it?
