The fight over immigration has centered recently on one group: tens of thousands of unaccompanied children crossing the US border with Mexico.
When House Republicans passed a $694m border security bill last week, it was accompanied by another bill that would essentially end a program designed to allow up to 1.7 million children of undocumented migrants to stay in the US legally and find jobs.
Republicans voted against Deferred Actions for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) “as a gesture of protest at President Obama’s leniency toward undocumented migrants”.
Daca allows undocumented immigrants who were brought here illegally as children and have US high school degree the right to get temporary work permits and stay in the US legally for two years. All the applicants have to be younger than 31.
The anti-Daca bill has little chance of becoming a law, but it is a legislative warning shot as undocumented youths around the nation prepare to renew the two-year permits they received through Daca.
Undocumented migrants have their own worries about the program, which may be justified. A number of factors appears to already be taking a toll on the program, which is reaching only a small portion of its potential applicants and is also experiencing low renewal rates.
One factor is the cost of Daca applications, which, at $465 each, are prohibitive to many struggling families of undocumented migrants.Another factor is that many young people without US papers are afraid to show themselves and make themselves apparent to authorities, knowing that the program only provides a short reprieve from deportation.
And the biggest factor is time; given all the legislative opposition to Daca, many migrants may not feel secure in its survival beyond the end of the Obama presidency in 2016.
All of these concerns, and possibly more, are cutting into Daca’s reach. MPI estimates the initial pool of the potential eligible applicants to be 1.2 million and the total Daca-eligible population to be 2.1 million. Yet only about 673,000 people have applied so far.
Renewals are also down. There have been 25,000 renewal applications for the program since 5 June, when the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced the instructions, according to a report by the Migration Policy Institute, MPI.
Despite the fact that Daca renewal is strongly advised – the penalty is deportation – that 25,000 number for renewals is well below the 28,000 one might expect, given the number of applications in 2012, according to the Brookings Institution.
The numbers suggest that undocumented migrants have a good chance of approval if they overcome their objections to the program. By March of this year, the US government received over 673,000 first-time Daca applications. The majority of applicants – about 587,000 young people – were granted the prized result: temporary work permits and a promise that they wouldn’t be deported for at least two years.
A flashpoint for undocumented migrants
There’s no question that the very existence of Daca rankles Republicans, who have blamed it for a host of US border ills. As national attention has been captivated by the recent waves of unaccompanied minors at the southern border, many US lawmakers have pointed fingers at Daca as the reason behind the waves of new faces seeking to enter the country.
“I personally think this administration’s policies have contributed to this problem,” said Texas Representative Michael McCaul in June during a House homeland security committee hearing. “This problem will continue until we provide a deterrence, a strong message that if you do come, you can’t stay.”
The US Department of Homeland Security, and immigration advocates, counter that the main reason for increased immigration is not the two-year-old Daca program, but living conditions and a relative lack of economic opportunities in many Central American countries.
“I don’t think that Daca is the reason that the children are coming,” says Elizabeth Plum, Daca Outreach Coordinator at the New York Immigration Coalition. “It’s violence. The trip is the most dangerous in the world. Some never make it.”
Still seeking to protect the program from its legislative enemies, the Obama administration has been careful to underplay the program’s benefits.
President Obama said that Daca “is not amnesty, this is not immunity. This is not a path to citizenship. It’s not a permanent fix.”
The Department of Homeland Security and the White House have also launched an information campaign to let recent undocumented migrants know that Daca is not available to them. They’re hoping to counter the false hope that is spread purposely by human smugglers, known as coyotes, who stand to make money by helping people cross the border.
For all the worry that Daca will be mistaken for perfect immigration amnesty, undocumented youngsters in the US say the program is far from ideal. It divides families as many young people with Daca are still struggling and are wracked with guilt over receiving work permits, while the rest of their families remain undocumented.
“I know many students who are thrilled to have documents, but have trouble balancing academia and work because they suddenly become the main source of income for their family,” explains Ivy Teng Lei, who came to US aged seven and is herself a Daca recipient.
“Although Daca has been extremely helpful in allowing many to have a better life, this is not true for everyone,” says Krsna Avila, legal services manager at Educators for Fair Consideration. “Many undocumented young adults have had trouble finding a job. Obtaining the right to work does not solve all of the complicated problems that are involved with getting employment.”
“There’s a job scarcity for everyone and it’s only more pronounced for people in this situation,” says Plum of the Daca recipients.
Many Daca recipients are unprepared for the job hunt. Those living in Central Valley, California, whose parents are mostly farm workers, have run into yet another problem: lack of access to the internet. Off-the-books work experience also doesn’t help.
To get the money for the application, many migrants appeal to lending circles like the Mission Asset Fund.
“[In June] alone we noticed a spike of participants who are joining [the Fund] specifically to apply for their renewal. Approximately 50% of new participants are joining to apply for the renewal,” says the Mission Asset Fund’s development officer, Tara Robinson.
Jesus Barrios, who moved to the US in 1994 at three-years-old and received a scholarship to pay for his initial Daca application fee, says it won’t be easy to find the money to pay his renewal fee. “But at least I have the means to pay,” he says. “I am privileged to have a full-time job at the moment.”
Daca tends to create do-gooders among the children of undocumented migrants who manage to get past the early, difficult stages of education and job searching, says Robinson.
“Higher education helps. Daca recipients who have continued their education enter the non-profit, for-profit and public sectors,” says Robinson.
Teng-Lei is among those recipients who balances her time between worlds. She currently works in advertising while advocating for immigration reform in her free time. Barrios, meanwhile, plans to work in health education for HIV and Aids patients.
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