In 2012, former President Barack Obama enacted an executive order known as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. It is the deferred deportation of people who had arrived in the United States as young children. Jumping to April of this year, we see an increase in the detention and deportation of DACA recipients despite their active program status. According to the American Immigration Council, the Trump administration is directly targeting people who have benefited from DACA, and it is stripping DACA recipients of their safety and ability to work in the country lawfully. The Board of Immigration Appeals ruled that an immigration judge cannot terminate deportation proceedings solely because an individual has DACA status. I spoke with two immigration lawyers, Revathi Vongsiprasom and Heidi Oligmueller, about DACA and what recipients are currently facing.
AIC says the current and valid grant of DACA still technically provides temporary deferred action and protection from deportation; the landscape for recipients is highly fragile. According to the AIC, the Department of Homeland Security has admitted to jailing over 260 DACA recipients and deported more than 80.
According to the American Immigration Council, the Dream Act was proposed legislation that would permanently protect certain immigrants who entered the country as children but were vulnerable to deportation. Multiple versions of the Dream Act have been introduced to Congress over the past 20 years. While there are notable differences in the various versions of the bill, they all would have provided a pathway to legal status for undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children. Despite having bipartisan support and one version having 48 cosponsors, none have become law. According to AIC in 2010, one version of the act came closest to full passage when it passed the House but fell just five votes short of the 60 needed to proceed into the Senate.
According to the American Immigration Council, there are about 2,400 active DACA recipients in Iowa, there are about 2,460 in Nebraska, and there are about 190 in South Dakota.
