On the 10th anniversary of the policy that allowed undocumented immigrants who entered the U.S. as children to live and work without fear of deportation, those so-called Dreamers celebrated the program and called for urgent congressional action to ensure their future.

What You Need To Know

  • Dreamers celebrated the 10th anniversary of the program that has shielded them from deportation and also called for urgent congressional action to ensure their future

  • The more than 600,000 young people active in the DACA program do not have a regular pathway to citizenship as a legal challenge plays out in federal court, putting them in potential limbo
  • Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday held a private meeting with DACA recipients in her office, and President Biden called on Congress to act to protect them

  • Legislation to create a pathway to permanent status for Dreamers has bipartisan support, but it has gotten little movement in Congress

Since former president Barack Obama created the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in 2012, it has faced multiple legal challenges, the most recent one ending in a court ruling that the program was unlawful. That ruling did not take away current Dreamers’ status, but it did block new applicants.

Meanwhile, the more than 600,000 young people active in the program do not have a regular pathway to citizenship as the case plays out and the Biden administration appeals the decision, leaving Dreamers in limbo. There has been some bipartisan support for legislation that would solidify their status, but it’s gotten little movement in Congress.

“Today we celebrate DACA, but it is a bittersweet anniversary,” said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who has led the introduction of the Dream Act since 2001, a bill that would provide a pathway to legal status who undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children.

“This battle is still going to be won. I'm never giving up on it,” he later added.

DACA has shielded more than 830,000 young immigrants from deportation since the program’s implementation in 2012. More than 600,000 were active in the program at the end of 2021, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., has also advocated for legal status for Dreamers, reintroducing the Dream Act with Durbin last year. When President Biden took office, he also laid out a plan to grant millions of undocumented immigrants a pathway to legal status, including Dreamers, though movement toward immigration reform has subsided in Congress.

Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday held a private meeting with DACA recipients in her office for the anniversary, and in a video, President Joe Biden once again called on Congress to pass legislation to establish protections for Dreamers.

“Your president has your back,” he said.

 

DACA recipient Indira Islas, who left Mexico when she was six years old, told a crowd outside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday that “America has been the only place” she has ever called home.

“From the moment I rolled into kindergarten to the day of my high school graduation, I faced the American flag and pledged a promise that I vow to keep to this day,” she said. “When DACA was established 10 years ago, it became America’s pledge to protect me.”

Because of DACA’s legal challenges, Islas said her and her sister, a nurse, are at risk of losing their jobs if the program is ended. And her younger sister, in college, risks not being able to get a job at all because she can no longer apply for DACA protection.

“I stand here today, not simply because we are at risk of losing our jobs but because this country is at a greater risk of losing the talent and skills it needs now more than ever,” Islas said.

While many Republicans do not support a pathway to citizenship for all of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the country, many do support DACA recipients.

Rep. Maria Salazar, R-Fla., who represents the congressional district including Miami, said more than 5,000 Dreamers live in her district, contributing more than $1 million to the local economy.

“I believe they are Americans, and there is no [other] way to put it,” she said Wednesday. “They go to school, they live in our economy … they pay taxes and they serve in the military.”

The Biden administration has appealed the judge’s ruling declaring DACA unlawful, and the court will hear it in early July.

The Department of Homeland Security has also issued a proposed federal rule to reinstate DACA after the federal judge found issues with procedural aspects of how the program was implemented. 

In a statement Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Democratic senators “stand ready to work together to pass legislation that will offer Dreamers the pathway to citizenship they deserve.”