DACA Digest: October 7, 2017
Curated news from the DACA Time team
Each week, the DACA Time team provides you with curated news and stories related to DACA and immigration to help raise awareness of the problems we’re trying to solve and the people we’re trying to help.
Raising awareness is a crucial component of social impact:
- How can you change something no one knows anything about?
- What support systems already exist for the folks we’re trying to help?
- Where do we see examples of success that inspire us?
- Perhaps most importantly, what victories, no matter how tiny, can we celebrate this week?
Beyond the social enterprise space, beyond those directly impacted by DACA and its far-too-often arduous application process, answering these questions helps us better understand how our actions are all connected.
Dreamer Stories
It might sometimes seem difficult to separate the politics surrounding DACA from the humanity of Dreamers. Just like United States citizens, they are students, engineers, entrepreneurs, and teachers.
Dreamers’ stories are important. It may be easy for some to consider upending the lives of an entire demographic represented in raw numbers and buzzwords; it’s much harder to look another person in the eyes and tell them, “I don’t care about your livelihood; you don’t belong here.”
And as this week saw the final DACA renewal deadline, the tone of Dreamers’ stories has tragically shifted from their thriving under the benefits and protections of DACA to coping with the threat of losing their employment and their protections from deportation.
Those threats are real and terrifyingly imminent.
DACA Information and News
Much as the stories of individual Dreamers highlight personal losses, entire industries are contemplating the loss of the collective, skilled workforce Dreamers represent. From engineering to manufacturing to education, capable Dreamers permeate the United States economy.
As DACA winds down, so too are programs that rely upon the benefits DACA previously provided. This study abroad program, for example, depended upon Dreamers qualifying for advance parole, a door that abruptly shut for hundreds of thousands on September 5.
Legislative Updates
The DACA renewal deadline having passed, pressure for congress to act is now more intense than ever. Trump has now met with both parties to discuss a legislative solution.
And reportedly one aspect of what came out of recent talks with Republicans is a list of immigration reforms that may be carried along with legislation that protects Dreamers.
Nevertheless, supporters of the DREAM Act feel confident that its passage will be relatively swift, with a major press conference taking place this week in Washington, an attendee of which was DACA Time’s own co-founder and Chief Dreamer Nathali.
But the DREAM Act isn’t the only bill on the docket, with competing pieces of legislation offering varying levels of support and parameters around receiving protections, and so the legislative waters remain — unfortunately — murky at best.
Services and Support
Now that the DACA renewal deadline has passed, advocacy and support efforts have shifted to how communities and organizations can best serve Dreamers. What, for instance, can employers do as work authorizations expire and legal questions surrounding the employment of DACA recipients become more common and pressing.
And what emotional, financial, and legal support can organizations previously focused on DACA application assistance provide now that initial and renewal applications are no longer accepted?
Of course, colleges around the United States continue to rally around their Dreamer students, such as these universities in Colorado and Arizona, doing the best they can in these extremely uncertain times.
DACA Time is here to help. Please let us know how we can best support your communities during this troubling time. We’d love to hear from anyone who has ideas or needs, and you can reach out to us on Facebook or through the contact information you can find on our website.
