The US Supreme Court will hear arguments today about the legality of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and whether the Trump administration acted within the law two years ago when it moved to end the program.
The DACA program was created in June 2012 and provided protection from deportation for certain undocumented youth. In some cases, having DACA status allowed young people to qualify for in-state tuition and financial aid — increasing their access to higher education.
Amid ongoing uncertainty and what may feel like legal whiplash, supporting DACA students is as important as ever.
Campus leaders who want to support undocumented students have a new place to turn for information.
Earlier this month, the Protect Dreamers Higher Education Coalition, of which NACAC is a member, created a new website highlighting facts about undocumented students and providing advocacy resources.
The coalition is encouraging colleges and universities to recognize Oct. 16-20 as Protect Dreamers Week. New resources created to help educators and others advocate on behalf of DREAMers include a fact sheet and talking points.
Continue reading New Advocacy Resources Available to Support Undocumented Students
Editor’s note: Admitted’s op-ed columns offer NACAC members the opportunity to share their take on the day’s news and events. The views and opinions expressed in Member View columns are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policies or positions of the association.
Throughout his tenure as president, Barack Obama frequently quoted Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s famous line, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” In 2012, the Obama administration implemented the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy, which temporarily allowed qualified undocumented immigrants to the United States, who entered the country as minors, to receive a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation and eligibility for a work permit. Additionally, DACA allowed some of these students access to in-state tuition.
DACA’s establishment was controversial, but the path toward DACA was paved decades before. In fact, the implementation of DACA coincided with the 30th anniversary of Plyler v. Doe, a 1982 Supreme Court decision that barred K-12 public schools from charging undocumented students tuition. In may have taken 30 years, but undocumented students in the United States had increased opportunities for not just primary and secondary education, but higher education as well. DACA was, essentially, part of the long arc bending toward justice.
Just-released data from US Citizenship and Immigration Services provides more information about the young people currently enrolled in the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
President Trump announced this week that the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program will end in six months.
Since 2012, DACA has provided deportation relief to undocumented youth who came to the country before the age of 16, as long as they met certain criteria.
NACAC was among several education organizations to speak out against Trump’s decision. In a statement released on Tuesday, the association said the move to eliminate DACA was a “regressive step that hurts many of America’s brightest, most vulnerable youth.”
