“We are living a difficult time in issues of uncertainty. There is a lot of fear. We have no confidence in what is going to happen or how long the Daca has, because every month they try to remove it. ”
Ramiro Luna, beneficiary of the Daca program.
Now lead the organization “We are tiles”that supports migrants, where they give educational workshops on what to do if they deport them and that was founded four years ago by Luis and five other colleagues.
“I have dedicated the majority of my life, as an adult, fighting and advocating the rights of migrants and for the Latin community,” he says.
He is one of the 544,690 DREAMERS In the United States which is beneficiary of the Deferred Action program for children in childhood (DACA); That is, it is an undocumented immigrant who arrived in that country as a child and that most of his life has done it in that territory.
What is Daca?
The Deferred Action Program for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) was created in 2012 during the administration of Barack Obama, which emerged- according to the US presidents alliance organization- to temporarily protect deportation to young immigrants They arrived in the country irregularly when they were children.
According to data from the United States National Security Department until September 2023, 81% of “dreamers” are Mexican.
The Daca provides benefits, such as temporary protection against deportation, Legal work permit, access to social rights as a social security number and, in some states, driver’s license. These supports are available for those who comply with specific criteria related to residence, age, education and legal history, among others, and must be renewed every two years.
“During the Presidency of Obama they made a very large movement, because they are very well organized migrants. They made the initiative Dream Act, which is a law to be legalized in the United States. They promoted him, but failed to pass, so they pressed Obama to take out an executive action to protect them, ”recalls Eunice Rendón, an expert in migration.
However, with the arrival of Donald Tump for the second time to the presidency of the United States, DACA is at risk. In 2017 Trump tried to end Obama’s executive action, but on that occasion the Supreme Court did not allow it, although they were stopped new permits, which resumed with the arrival of Joe Biden in 2021.
“The danger is that Donald Trump wants to want, with an executive action, take away that benefit and that I managed to stop all the new dacas, those who have just turned 17. So, they can complicate their lives as it did last time. ”
Eunice Rendón, expert in migration.
Camelia Tigau, from the North America Research Center UNAM, points out that the United States HE estimates that there are 3 million DREAMERS and? Only 18% are benefited from DACA; that is to say, More than 80% do not have this protection.
In an interview, he explains that among the reasons that exist so that most of these people do not have the migration program is for “fear”, since once they implicitly process it, they declare that their parents are undocumented migrants, so they fear to give that Information by their families.
The researcher indicates that currently this deferred action program is still in force, since it can be renewed and the US authorities continue to accept requests to process it, but They are not attending new authorizations.
Tigau clarifies that Daca is not a way for these people to achieve American citizenship, and points out that the most feasible route is marriage, but “many do not want to marry for convenience and prefer to be undocumented.”
Among the requirements to obtain DACA according to the United States Department of Security are:
- Be under 31 years old as of June 15, 2012
- Having arrived in the United States before turning 16.
- Having continuously resided in the United States from June 15, 2007, until the time of presenting its DACA request
- Be physically present in the United States on June 15, 2012, and at the time of presenting Daca’s request against USCIS.
- Be enrolled in school or be graded or have obtained a certificate of completion of the secondary school.
