CMS Report NOVEMBER 2019 - DACA and the Supreme Court: How We Got to This

After several failed attempts to pass the DREAM Act, a federal bill that would have provided a path to citizenship to qualifying young immigrants, the announcement of the DACA program provided a much-needed sense of relief, albeit temporary, to thousands of young immigrants who grew up in the United States. [...] By applying for DACA relief, applicants trusted the US government with 1 The DACA program resulted from the organizing, leadership, and advocacy of hundreds of immigrant youth and their allies, as well as a political and humanitarian judgement by the Obama administration on the need to offer some relief to this population prior to the presidential election. [...] A CMS study entitled “The DACA Era and the Continuous Legalization Work of the US Immigrant-Serving Community” found that the immigrant-serving sector was able to expand its capacity and redirect staff, assets, resources, and networks of collaborators to meet the demand by DACA recipients (Kerwin et al, 2017). [...] It is important to note that the rescission of the DACA program in 2017 not only affects the 652,800 current DACA recipients, but also the new generation of undocumented immigrants who were too young to apply for the program when it was still valid. [...] It’s helped the fear and given me visibility.” Studies report that one of the side benefits of legalization programs like DACA is the sense of safety and stability that they afford, which consequently improve the mental health of its beneficiaries and offers other health benefits.