DACA Serves As Pilot For Immigration Reform

By Laurel Morales
November 18, 2013

Immigration advocates say lawmakers could learn some lessons from the Obama Administration’s Deferred Action For Childhood Arrivals (DACA). They say broader immigration reform should include better information and a more streamlined application process.

From the Associated Press:

"DACA represents an important trial run for a larger legalization process, should one result from comprehensive immigration reform," said Tom Wong, assistant professor of political science at the University California, San Diego.

Since it was rolled out in August 2012, many nonprofit organizations and school districts say they’ve been challenged by the overwhelming number of DACA-related requests for school and medical records.

For young people who grew up in the United States without legal documents, DACA allows them to work legally and go to college in the U.S. under a two-year reprieve.

About 600,000 people have applied and about three quarters of the applicants were approved. About half of the young people who qualify nationwide have applied. 

DACA has been challenged in court.

"Napolitano's directive is ordering ICE agents to break the law," said attorney and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who represented ICE agents. "Because the law that Congress passed actually specifies the immigration officers themselves, and says those officers must — they shall — place certain illegal aliens in removal proceedings."

And some DACA recipients have run into obstacles. In Arizona, for example, DACA recipients can get two-year work permits but not driver’s licenses

And they don’t qualify for in-state tuition at all colleges in all states.

Wong has analyzed data from the first phase of DACA. He found several minor problems that could become major issues for broader reform — uncertainty about what paperwork is acceptable to apply, long processing times and a lack of resources.

It’s unclear whether we will see large-scale immigration reform in the near future.