Don’t let the incoming Trump administration fool you on immigration

ThinkProgress

When Donald Trump is sworn in as President of the United States, millions of American families will be watching. Many of those families will be waiting to see how Trump deals with the more than 750,000 immigrants who entered the country as children and who have now come forward, passed background checks, and received temporary protection from deportation under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program.

As a candidate, Trump promised to end DACA. But as president-elect, Trump has said — without offering specifics — that he’ll “work something out that’s gonna make people happy and proud.” So what exactly will he do?

As early as his first day in office, President Trump could rescind the memorandum that created DACA and announce that he is revoking the deportation protection these young people have been offered. He could similarly rescind the memorandum that now guides the Department of Homeland Security’s immigration enforcement actions and go after Dreamers using the identifying information that they provided to the government.

Thanks to Obama, immigrants are getting better jobs

But another and more likely possibility is that, in the days and weeks after the inauguration, the Trump administration could rescind the DACA memorandum but say that DACA recipients who do not commit crimes will remain low priorities for enforcement, and will be permitted to retain DACA until their current grant expires. Alternatively, the administration could remain silent about the DACA program or issue a combination of half-baked statements that only create more uncertainty.

Such an approach would almost certainly be described in the media as an act of moderation — however, it’s anything but. In the absence of a clear statement that DACA will remain in place until Congress passes legislation to resolve the issue appropriately, and that new applications and renewals will be processed in accordance with the program’s existing guidelines, tens of thousands of recipients will begin losing protection each month.

Without DACA, nearly 650,000 young people who are estimated to be working lawfully under the program eventually will lose work authorization and be driven out of the workforce. This would rob the country of at least $433.4 billion in gross domestic product over a 10 year period, and would be enormously disruptive to businesses that would face substantial turnover costs. Meanwhile, those people who would continue working without authorization would be subject to the heightened risk of wage theft and workplace violations that disproportionately affect unauthorized workers, but ultimately harm all workers.

Such an approach would almost certainly be described in the media as an act of moderation — however, it’s anything but.

The ripple effects of rescinding DACA without a replacement and instead allowing the program to phase out over time would be felt widely, as hundreds of thousands of recipients would lose access to driver’s licenses and health insurance and face significantly greater financial instability.

In every state, young people with DACA are now able to obtain driver’s licenses, but only a small number of states grant licenses to unauthorized immigrants without DACA. In many parts of the country — particularly rural areas with little to no public transportation — having a driver’s license is an absolute necessity. Having a license not only expands opportunities for persons who are licensed, but also increases the percentage of people on public roads who have been trained, tested, and insured.

Furthermore, half of DACA recipients — like most Americans — receive health insurance through their employer. Ending DACA means that hundreds of thousands of young people will lose their health insurance. This will not only interfere with their ability to access necessary health care, but will also have public health consequences and will unnecessarily place strain on emergency rooms that already provide the least cost-effective form of care possible. Under current law, DACA recipients are not eligible for subsidies under the Affordable Care Act and are prohibited from purchasing insurance on the individual exchanges.

DACA also plays a key role in expanding access to higher education. In a handful of states, many DACA recipients can afford to enroll in college only because they are eligible for in-state tuition. If DACA were repealed, many would have to drop out of their courses of study. A recent survey found that DACA recipients are majoring, specializing, and training in a wide array of disciplines, including early childhood education, biochemistry, computer science, neuroscience, nursing, and social work.

Trump transition seeks info about undocumented immigrants

Because DACA has enabled recipients to gain an education and find employment that better matches their skills and training, it has increased financial independence. One in eight DACA recipients has bought a home since participating in the program, and most are able to pay their mortgages through wages they earn. Ending DACA and allowing work authorizations to expire would put nearly 100,000 DACA recipients in danger of foreclosure.

All of these harms can be avoided with virtually no effort.

President-elect Trump said recently that he is working on a “very firm” plan with “a lot of heart” to address the situation facing Dreamers that will be ready in two to three months. Republicans and Democrats in the Senate and House, hoping to prevent DACA recipients from losing work authorization and to buy time for Congress to act on more a lasting solution, recently introduced the BRIDGE Act, which largely mirrors the qualifications of DACA and offers similar protections for three years from the date of enactment.

Millions of families will be watching particularly closely in the coming days to see how President Trump addresses this situation — and the entire country will feel the consequences of his decision.