PROTECTING DACA

 Permanently Protecting DACA Recipients Is the Right Thing to Do

  • DACA offers a two-year renewable work permit to undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. before 2007 when they were younger than 16—by no choice of their own.

  •  The average DACA recipient was brought to the U.S. at the age of six and has called the U.S. home for 22 years.  They play integral roles in their communities in every state in the country. 

  •  In order to receive DACA protection, applicants must meet strict residency and education rules, and they must pay an application fee.  They also must provide their fingerprints to the federal government and pass a criminal background check.

  • DACA allows nearly 700,000 young people to work and/or attend school in the U.S. free from the threat of deportation.  Approximately 900 DACA recipients even serve in the U.S. military.

  • DACA recipients are following the rules and should be allowed to stay in the country they call home.  Yanking their work permits away will disrupt their lives at great cost to their families, communities, and the rest of our country. 

Eliminating DACA Would Damage Our Economy 

  • DACA recipients contribute to our economic growth by working, paying taxes, creating jobs, and spending in the U.S. economy.

  • Suddenly kicking DACA recipients out of the country will cost the U.S. $460 billion in GDP and diminish federal tax revenue by $90 billion over the next decade.

  • In addition to the $5.6 billion in federal taxes and $3.1 billion in state and local taxes they pay every year, DACA recipients also contribute to our Medicare and Social Security systems.  Without them, the U.S. will lose $24.6 billion in Medicare and Social Security payroll tax contributions over the next ten years.

  •  More and more DACA recipients are starting businesses and creating new U.S. jobs.  Approximately six percent of DACA recipients have already founded small businesses that employ U.S. citizens.

  •  Thanks to work permits allowing them to obtain high-skilled jobs in the formal economy, DACA recipients are able to increase their earnings and spend more as consumers.  The DACA program enables them to work hard and invest in a car, a home, and other purchases that keep our economy growing. 

 

We Can’t Afford to Lose Frontline Workers During COVID-19

  •  More than 100,000 Americans have died due to COVID-19, while 41 million more have lost their jobs.  

  •  DACA recipients are on the front lines fighting against the pandemic.  More than 27,000 DACA recipients are health care workers—doctors, nurses, paramedics, and more—who are risking their lives to treat COVID-19 patients.

  •  DACA recipients and their families are also among the immigrants who work in other critical sectors and perform essential duties to keep our country going.  Immigrants comprise 73 percent of the U.S. farmworkers who put food on our tables, and they make up 35 percent of cleaning and maintenance staff whose work is crucial stop the spread of the virus.