The futures of more than 800,000 DACA recipients hang in the balance after President Trump rescinded the federal program currently allowing them to work and study in the United States. Close to half of DACA recipients are enrolled in school or college, and the higher education community has spoken out in support of continuing or updating the program.
College leaders from the Washington, D.C., metro area met at Georgetown University on Monday to affirm their commitment to DACA and to call on Congress to pass the DREAM Act. The gathering kicked off “Higher Education Week,” a national campaign led by the American Council on Education along with colleges and universities across the country in support of DACA recipients and Dreamers. Approximately 23,000 DACA recipients and Dreamers attend college in D.C., Maryland and Virginia alone.
George Mason University president Dr. Angel Cabrera said that it was critical that Congress act to help protect hardworking young people from deportation. “It is not just an issue of justice,” Cabrera said. “If we don’t find a solution not only are we being incredibly unfair, we are being plainly stupid as a society.”
President Obama passed the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program by executive order in 2012. Through DACA, undocumented young people brought to the U.S. as minors by their parents were able to apply for a permit that allowed them to work and to attend a postsecondary institution.
The program did not provide a path to permanent residency, but rather deferred deportation for participants. Permits had to be renewed every two years for a fee of $495, and were only granted to qualifying applicants who had stayed clear of legal trouble and were either enrolled in or had graduated from high school, among other requirements.
As of early October, the opportunity to apply for a permit renewal through the Department of Homeland Security ended. Applications for initial permits closed in early September. The Trump administration has given Congress up until March 5 to create bipartisan legislation that would create more formal immigration procedures for current DACA recipients, but after, the program will end and current recipients will begin to lose their status with no option for renewal.
Resolving the current challenges to DACA is one of the most significant “social justice issues of our time,” according to Dr. DeRionne P. Pollard, president of Montgomery College, a community college in Maryland. DACA recipients work and contribute to the economy, and often are making significant financial sacrifices to get an education, she said.
