DACA Turns 5: Should the president continue to protect the ‘DREAMers’?

What’s the story?

Today is the fifth anniversary of DACA, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a program that protects undocumented young people who were brought to the United States as children from being deported. Some on the right are using the anniversary as an opportunity to argue for DACA to be ended and replaced with new legislation. At the same time, some on the left are advocating for the program to be continued.

View From the Right

"It’s time to end DACA. Adults who were brought here illegally by their parents at very young ages (toddlers, not teenagers) are indeed good candidates for amnesty – they’ve grown up here and formed their identities as Americans. But it’s Congress that makes laws, not the president...the way to proceed would be to phase out DACA and at the same time propose a legislative compromise...a package upgrading the DACAs from their lawless Obama amnesty to a genuine lawful one, in exchange for the RAISE Act, the Davis-Oliver Act, and mandatory E-Verify."— Mark Krikorian, National Review

View From the Left

"There are good reasons for the president to continue DACA. The legal grounds underlying the program are sound. It is rooted in both statutory law and precedent; in U.S. v. Arizona (2012), the Supreme Court reaffirmed that the federal government has broad discretion over immigration enforcement. Some polling shows that the public favors keeping DACA by a more than a two-to-one margin. Plus there is ample research showing that DACA leads to positive educational and economic outcomes.” — Raul Reyes, USA Today

What do you think?

Should the president continue DACA or end it? If it’s ended, should Congress take new legislative steps to prevent the deportation of DREAMers?

Tell us in the comments, share this article to expand the conversation and then use the Take Action button to tell your reps what you think!

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— Asha Sanaker

(Photo Credit: Joe Frazier Photo via Flickr / Creative Commons)