DACA’s Rollercoaster Ride of Legal Battles

Being a recipient of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status, or one in-waiting, feels like getting on a non-stop roller coaster through the U.S. legal system. The operator promises “there’ll just be one loop of turns and before you know it, the ride will be over,” but the operator is wrong. After one loop of turns, and another, the loops don’t seem to be ending. For young undocumented immigrants, like myself, it’s a ride we want to get off, but there is no end in sight. As of 2021, there are an estimated 616,300 DACA recipients within the United States and an additional 1,159,00 DACA-eligible immigrants.

In 2012, after Congress failed again to pass the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act that would have granted legal status to young undocumented immigrants (often called DREAMers), President Obama instead issued an executive order to create DACA — a temporary immigration status that protects individuals who entered the United States unlawfully as children. Ever since, the fate of DACA and immigration reform overall remains uncertain, as it has been subject to near-constant legal and political battles. These ups-and-downs (outlined in the infographic below) have been extremely unsettling and painful to the 800,000 plus immigrants who have benefited from DACA since its introduction, including myself.

My family immigrated to the United States nineteen years ago from Nigeria. I was only four and my brother was just one. When my parents made the difficult decision to leave our home country, they made countless sacrifices so that we could have a better life and obtain a better education here in America. So, when DACA was announced, my parents were overjoyed that my brother and I would soon gain greater security and protections from deportation.

I first received my DACA status in 2015 and that year was nothing short of life changing. Having DACA meant that I could start working, have my own driver’s license, and help relieve the burden of expenses from my parents. I was more excited about my future than I had ever been before, and I was looking forward to when my brother would be able to receive DACA status and reap similar benefits too.

But on September 5th, 2017, that excitement turned to anguish. I remember it like it was yesterday. I was just starting my first semester at Trinity Washington University when I was flooded with emails and notifications that President Trump had ended DACA. I was heartbroken. Although I knew it was coming, the announcement was still painful and the reality that would soon set in afterwards was hard to accept.

As unsettling as the repeal of the DACA status was to me, it was much worse for my brother. Just a month earlier, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) informed us that his DACA application was received and being processed. But even now, almost five years later, his application has still not been approved. Being DACA-eligible but not yet a DACA recipient is even more frustrating because you feel the weight of uncertainty much more. The past five years have been difficult for him without DACA; he has not been able to work and he has limited access to scholarships to afford college. When it was time to apply to colleges, my brother told admission counselors that he was DACA-eligible and that he was just waiting on his application approval, but colleges still considered him an international student. Though disheartened, he decided to start off at a local community college.

For young undocumented immigrants, like myself, it’s a ride we want to get off, but there is no end in sight.

When I shared my story with The Hechinger Report two years ago, I was hoping that DREAMers would be one step closer towards citizenship by now. However, even with a new presidential administration that has made many immigration promises, we are still left in limbo with no pathway to citizenship, and this is not unique to just DACA recipients. There are roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States who have been waiting over ten years on average for a pathway to citizenship. DACA was never supposed to be a permanent solution to the growing need of citizenship for undocumented immigrant youth. But it has been treated as such because Congress has not passed a comprehensive immigration package in over 30 years, mostly due to opposition from conservative lawmakers. So, immigrants like myself are forced to live our lives in increments, renewing our DACA status every two years with a $495 fee. The pandemic has only made things worse as requirements for sending in applications have changed, and many DACA recipients have lost their jobs, thus making the renewal fee more difficult to afford.

When President Biden took office last year, I thought his administration would bring some sort of resolution. On his first day, he immediately reinstated DACA and unveiled the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021 — an extensive immigration legislation that would provide a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and establish a legal immigration reform platform. But one year later, DREAMers are not in a better position than we were then. Though the Biden administration can be applauded for their attempts to push something for DREAMers in Congress, they must work harder and continuously be held accountable so that another year does not go by without immigration reform being passed.

The U.S. immigration system was historically built on the foundation of exclusion and it is past time that it is reformed. A pathway to citizenship would provide more stability, protection, and employment opportunities for immigrants like myself. This has long been a cry of our community and our allies, and the overwhelming desires of the American people. Staying informed and supporting organizations who fight for our stay in this country would make our advocacy even stronger and more meaningful.

Our leaders cannot afford to wait much longer. With 2022 being a midterm election year, it comes with greater challenges to gain the same support and momentum that lawmakers had towards immigration last year. But I refuse to give up hope. I am confident that these many disruptions will result in something meaningful. Over 343,000 DACA recipients continue to fight on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic as essential workers, 34,000 of whom are healthcare workers, and 20,000 of whom are educators. These are not just numbers. These are real people who offer valuable contributions to their communities, yet their livelihoods are continuously disrupted because lawmakers have failed to act substantially. It is time that President Biden and Congress act now and quickly.

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