why DACA should be passed

Introduction

DACA is a federal government initiative that stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals that was developed by the Obama administration in 2012. The primary goal of its establishment was to relieve the unprecedented burdens placed on young people brought unlawfully into the United States by their parents (CAP team & Nicholson). As a result, such children may have a temporary right to live, learn, and work in the country, as well as receive driver’s licenses and avoid deportation. After nearly 787580 individuals were approved, Trump declared an action to rescind the scheme. The opponents such as the Attorney General Jeff Sessions argued that DACA was a circumvention of the immigration laws and has denied hundreds of thousands of Americans jobs. Hence, if the act is not legalized, then dreamers or DACA recipient will no longer be accepted in the US and thus throwing over 800000 people into turmoil and fear (Brannon and Albright).

Positive Economic Impacts of Legalizing DACA

However, official termination will have severe complications to the country. Legalization of the program can bring positive economic impacts to the nation as the students who are foreign-born kids bring significant contribution in the labor force together with enhancement of innovation and technology in many industries across the states of America. Documented evidence indicates that the immigrants or their children were the founders of over forty percent of the fortune 500 companies and thus have a genuine contribution to the US prosperity (CAP team & Nicholson). Therefore, the thesis statement involves a critical evaluation and analysis of the reasons why the DACA program should be passed in the US for the benefit of undocumented youths.

Justification for DACA

Immigration advocates together with Democratic politicians argue that DACA is the most humane form of policy that allows immigrants not to be displaced from the country they are familiar with since their childhood. Prominent groups of the evangelical leaders also support the dreamers as they have been leading in the churches and communities and ending the immigration policy would be devastating to the moral aspect of the American society (Wolgin). There is a moral imperative to act since DACA is not merely about the public policy. Rescinding the system will be an injustice to children by punishing them for the infractions committed by their parents. It will show how the nation is inconsistent with the professed ideals of the moral imagination.

Contributions to Social Security and Medicare

The unauthorized immigrants are efficiently contributing to the Social Security and Medicare. For instance, in 2010, they paid over $ 13 billion into Social Security but received only $ 1 billion in the services, and the remainder was a benefit to the government and is called net contribution in the economy (Brannon and Albright). DACA benefits the Americans and is a key to success of US leadership worldwide. The recipients, in the long run, contribute more social services and taxes as opposed to individual benefits which imply that the legalized citizens enjoy the funds of immigrants through the infrastructure and services offered from the money raised from the illegal children. Furthermore, passing the DACA policy will increase the number of people who contribute to the Medicare as they pay more than what they will withdraw in the future (CAP team & Nicholson). Granting all the immigrants a legal status would eventually boost the amount of exercise, sales and property taxes paid to support a wide range of benefits that they may be statutorily barred from them.

Economic Benefits of Maintaining DACA

Maintaining DACA is therefore not only right for the young immigrants but also smart with substantial economic benefits. The current administration’s hostility should come to an end and educating a large number of people the reasons as to why there should be no hesitation in passing the program into law. Recipients of DACA are attaining higher levels of education and henceforth applying the knowledge, skills and talents to increase the accessibility to better job opportunities (CAP team & Nicholson). The economy will realize higher wages and eventually more tax revenue will be available to the US government. The Center for American study in 2016 showed that those who benefit from the program are capable of buying houses and cars, along with entering into new business ventures that will bring significant contributions to all states as well as cities across the country.

Economic Consequences of DACA Termination

If DACA is rescinded, then it implies that the recipients would be kicked out of the labor force. Therefore, it means that the America’s income would deteriorate by approximately $ 625 billion and henceforth a decline in the gross domestic product (GDP) (Brannon and Albright). A drop in the GDP is approximated to be over 2.6 percent, and it means an annual loss of more than 435 billion US dollars. The reforms being proposed by Trumps administration together with other opponents would, in the long run, lead to an increment in the federal budget deficit as many people would not become illegible for citizenship and improve the economic growth and development of the states and cities. Nevertheless, companies in many industries will lose large shares of their workforces as a result of mass deportation of unauthorized immigrants who are mainly the DACA participants.

Importance of Passing DACA

The Congress has to pass the Deferred Action for the Childhood Arrivals plan to make sure that the engine of growth is rapidly moving forward. The country’s fertility rate is decreasing, and it means that families will have fewer children and the population will be ageing (Department of Homeland Security). As the Americans consider having few children, the undocumented youths of the immigrants would be beneficial as they will tremendously feel the labor gap by granting the young people a significant chance to thrive as well as succeed. The immigrants constitute of only 13% of the overall population in the US but over-present the economic contributions through a fulfillment of up to 15% of the country’s national industrial output (CAP team & Nicholson). Moreover, participation in the labor force has led to an improvement in the wages earned by each American citizen, and according to proponents of the policy more job opportunities are availed.

Benefits of Retaining DACA

Thus, President Donald Trump and his supporters should ensure that DACA achieves the objectives set by Obama’s administration as a means of avoiding termination and replacement of employees which is more costly to the employers. The policy aimed at giving incentives to residents who are in the country illegally as children an opportunity to utilize or explore their human capital that has substantial benefaction to the nation (Wolgin). Hence, throwing away the policy does not only have severe implications for the immigrants’ population but also to the host country’s government and the public at large. By avoiding rescinding mass deportation, there will be possibilities of reducing the creation of potential for income losses for the most important and extensive industries such as those of manufacturing, financial initiatives, retail and wholesale trade. The federal government can also save billions of dollars that could be incurred in the deportation including processes in the immigration courts, expenditures in detaining these people and lastly transporting them abroad (Brannon and Albright).

Promoting Innovation and Entrepreneurship

DACA has continuously been a tremendous force for enhancing entrepreneurship and innovation to an extent to which it is unrivaled in the modern history of the US. As more than half of the billion dollar companies were founded by individuals from the immigration families, more job opportunities have been availed to the American citizens (Brannon and Albright). The new enterprises or business started by DACA recipients have been experiencing 60 percent increase over the past few years, and this situation implies that such children who are illegally brought to the country will end up to be job makers rather than employment takers. Youths that are born outside the U.S. eventually take high percentages of the new patents on inventions, and many US Nobel Prize Winners were not born in the country (Department of Homeland Security). Promoting the system will strengthen the nation’s innovative spirit and not forgetting a nourishment of the competition of the country worldwide.

Preserving Cultural Identity and Soft Power

Opponents and critics of DACA argue and express their concern regarding erosive effects of the plan on the country’s cultural identity. However, it is not true because the new generation of the children brought illegally brought into the US by the immigrant parents adapt fast as well as assimilating into the American society rapidly than one could expect. From the US Census Bureau statistics, the integration trends among such people are rising particularly in areas of English proficiency, wage growth, citizenship, education and ownership (CAP team & Nicholson). Furthermore, there is a rapid enhancement of the US essential component of soft power that characterizes a nation’s ability have a significant influence on the whole world via cultural appeal and values.

Maintaining Global Image and Reputation

According to Joseph Nye, the former chairman of the National Intelligence Council, DACA participants will contribute significantly towards upholding the symbol of prosperity accompanied by upward mobility (Department of Homeland Security). They would convey information on US ability to remain culturally open and accept different values to the overseas networks and henceforth shaping America’s global image and reputation. Thus, by throwing away, DACA would mean that there will be an underestimation of the soft power influence by discriminating the presence of the multiple thriving cultures of immigrants who could have expanded the US interests and counterbalancing the negatively perceived aspects of the region. Therefore, there will be difficulties for the federal government to achieve its foreign policy goals smoothly and efficiently (Wolgin).

Conclusion

In summary, DACA is an essential program that has helped more than 800 000 undocumented youths, and this data is according to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services. The recipients have gained continuous access to the higher paying jobs and thus contributing abundantly to the level of national income and eventually the gross domestic product. The employment increment among the immigrant youths has a positive impact when it comes to the American economy through an increase in the business creation. The Dreamers who are beneficiaries of the policy have the capability of opening their enterprises and henceforth enhancing employment opportunities to either Americans or non-Americans. If the DACA program is rescinded by Trump, there are possibilities of US losing billions of tax revenues and contributions to the social security and Medicare. Furthermore, a massive number of workers will lose their current jobs, and the federal government will incur considerable costs in apprehension, legal processing, detention and transportation. Many people, including public officials, are supporting DACA and there is a resistance of anti-DACA sentiment across the cities and states, and the fight is expected to rise if Trump and his administration go on to bring the program to an end. It has increased US leadership worldwide, enhancing the financial well-being of citizens and achievement of foreign policy goals.

Works cited

Brannon, I. and Albright, L. (2017). The Economic and Fiscal Impact of Repealing DACA.CATO at liberty. https://www.cato.org/blog/economic-fiscal-impact-repealing-dacaAccessed 11 December, 2017.

CAP & FWD.us. Study:​ ​the​ ​impact​ ​of​ ​Deferred​ ​Action​ ​for Childhood​ ​Arrivals​ ​(DACA)​ ​programrepeal​ ​on​ ​jobs. A timeline​ ​of​ ​the​ ​devastating​ ​and​ ​far-reaching​ ​job​ ​loss consequences​ ​ifDACA​ ​is​ ​repealed, 2017.

https://dreamers.fwd.us/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/20170823-DACA-Job-Loss-Report.pdf Accessed 11 December, 2017.

CAP team & Nicholson, M.D. The Facts on Immigration Today. Center for American ProgressImmigration Policy team, 2017.

https://cdn.americanprogress.org/content/uploads/2017/04/19075656/041017_FactsImmigration-report.pdf Accessed 11 December, 2017.

Department of Homeland Security. Exercising Prosecutorial Discretion with Respect toIndividuals Who Came to the United States as Children and with Respect to CertainIndividuals Who Are the Parents of U.S. Citizens or Permanent Residents, 2014.

https://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/s1-exercising-prosecutorial-discretion-individuals-who-came-to-us-as-children.pdf Accessed 11 December, 2017.

Wolgin, P.E. What Would It Cost to Deport All 5 Million Beneficiaries of Executive Action onImmigration? Center for American Progress, 2015.

https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/immigration/news/2015/02/23/106983/what-would-it-cost-to-deport-all-5-million-beneficiaries-of-executive-action-on-immigration/ Accessed 11 December, 2017.