{"id":26101,"date":"2016-12-31T19:01:35","date_gmt":"2017-01-01T00:01:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/?p=26101"},"modified":"2016-12-31T19:37:52","modified_gmt":"2017-01-01T00:37:52","slug":"big-dreams-and-hidden-harms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/2016\/12\/big-dreams-and-hidden-harms\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Dreams and Hidden Harms"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>One of the first choices that the Trump Administration will face after the upcoming inauguration is what to do about the \u201cDreamers.\u201d \u00a0The name Dreamer has been used both to refer specifically to the young adults currently participating in the Deferred Action Childhood Arrival program (DACA)<\/a> and, more generally, to any undocumented residents of the United States who were brought to this country by their parents when they were minors.<\/p>\n

It is not difficult to be sympathetic to the plight of the Dreamers.\u00a0 As undocumented residents of the United States, they were subject to immediate deportation under the law as it existed prior to 2012.\u00a0 However, these longtime residents of the United States often had little memory of their birth country and may not have spoken any language other than English.\u00a0 They grew up in the United States, and attended U.S. schools, and as a result they share the same hopes and dreams of any native born young adult.\u00a0 Moreover, they were not morally complicit in their parents\u2019 decision to enter the United States.\u00a0 Prior to 2012, approximately 2 million people essentially found themselves trapped in a form of limbo \u2013 feeling American, unconnected to any foreign country, and yet unable to work lawfully in the United States or to plan for their future.<\/p>\n

Legislation was first introduced in Congress in 2001 to resolve this situation and to permit these persons to obtain legal residence in the United States.\u00a0 Titled the Development Relief and Education of Alien Minors Act (or DREAM Act), this first bill and similar versions introduced in subsequent years were designed to create a 6-year pathway to permanent legal residency.\u00a0 To be eligible under the DREAM Act, a young adult had to have been brought to the United States at a young age, was required to be a college graduate or a military veteran (or be currently enrolled or enlisted), and could not have a criminal record.\u00a0 The DREAM Act and its successor bills boasted bipartisan support but never passed both houses of Congress, either as a standalone bill or as a component part of a comprehensive immigration reform package.<\/p>\n

Frustrated by congressional inaction, President Obama chose to extend relief to the Dreamers in the form of a Presidential Directive. \u00a0\u00a0In 2012, the President issued a directive to the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to exercise prosecutorial discretion in order to defer the possible deportation of qualifying Dreamers.\u00a0 On June 15, 2012, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano issued a memorandum <\/a>setting forth the manner in which prosecutorial discretion would be exercised under the Deferred Action Childhood Arrival (DACA) program.<\/p>\n

Individuals are eligible to apply for DACA <\/a>if they:<\/p>\n