On September 5, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, primarily known as DACA, was announced to be formally revoked in 6 months. These 6 months will allow Congress to pass the legislation.

DACA shields young immigrants without documentation from deportation and it also allows them to work legally in the United States. 800,000 young adults who were brought to the United States illegally as minors qualified for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals in 2014. Beginning March of 2018, these Dreamers will be at risk of deportation. Although DACA does not grant a legal migration status, President Trump has emphasized this decision as an attempt to better control the deportation of illegal immigrants.

Trump claimed the major reason for the removal of DACA was because of the “millions of Americans victimized by the unfair system.” During the six months that congress has to pass the legislation, Dreamers will not be subject to deportation. Trump has given indications that the reason for removing DACA is because of the shift in labor. This implies that immigrants, specifically those without documentation have been taking a surplus of the jobs available to American citizens.
Reports have characterized Trump’s decision as anti-immigrant, as he claimed that immigrants are “illegal lawbreakers.” Mr. Sessions said the program had “denied jobs to hundreds of thousands of Americans by allowing those same illegal aliens to take those jobs.”

Many DACA supporters have expressed opposition because revoking the program represents giving someone the American Dream and taking it away. Proponents of DACA also argue that over 90% of these immigrants are currently employed and pay taxes, which stimulates the economy.

There are indications of efforts to fix the DACA program, but for the moment, new applications will not be accepted and the Bill for a replacement program won’t be available until March.