Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals

Currently, there are 11.7 million undocumented immigrants in the United States; 6 million of those immigrants are Mexican-born (Preston). Within that undocumented population are individuals who were brought to the States as children. These individuals have grown up in the American culture and consider themselves American, but struggle with being treated as second class citizens due to their undocumented status. On June fifteenth of 2012, the Obama Administration announced the executive order Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). This order will allow immigrants who were brought illegally to the U.S. as children to apply for work permits and avoid deportation (Hennessey and Bennett). President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals is not only beneficial to it applicants but also to the United States as a whole.

For an individual to be considered for deferred action, they must meet various requirements. Applicants must be under the age of 31, have entered the country prior to his or her sixtieth birthday, and have lived in the States for a minimum of five years (It's an immigration winner). In addition, individuals must be enrolled in school or have a certificate of completion from high school, as well as be free of any felony charges (It's an immigration winner). Individuals who served in the U.S. military can also apply for consideration (It's an immigration winner). Applicants must submit documents to demonstrate that they meet the required guidelines. These documents include, but are not limited to: birth certificates, passports, school records, medical records and employment records (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). As of today, 638,054 individuals have applied for deferred action; of those applican...

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...e undocumented youth, it is not where they were born that constitutes them, but where their heart lies. For these individuals, their heart lies in the Unites States of America.

Works Cited

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. n.d. 9 March 2014. .

Department of Homeland Security . "Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Process (Through Fiscal Year 2014, 1st Qtr)." 2014.

Hennessey, Kathleen and Brian Bennett. "Obama urged to reduce deportations; Immigration reform advocates push the president to take executive action, or risk losing Latino voters' support." Los Angeles Times 8 March 2014: A.7.

"It's an immigration winner." Los Angeles Times 19 August 2012: A.21.

Preston, Julia. "Number of Illegal Immigrants in U.S. May Be on Rise Again, Estimates Say." The New York Times 24 September 2013: A16.