President Trump’s decision to terminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, immediately halting new applications and allowing renewals for just six more months, will have repercussions across the United States. The roughly 790,000 approved beneficiaries, all raised and educated in the United States, live, attend school, and work in countless communities. Unless Congress steps in, the end of DACA in six months will affect not only DACA recipients and their families, but also employers, universities, and communities alike as beneficiaries begin to lose work authorization and protection from deportation, and face renewed barriers to higher education. New Migration Policy Institute (MPI) research shows that work authorization has helped DACA recipients contribute beyond low-skilled sectors of the economy, rising into higher-paying office jobs.

The President’s decision also slams the door shut for around 1.1 million others in the potentially eligible DACA universe—either because they did not apply, needed additional educational attainment, or were too young to file an application. MPI estimates that 1.9 million unauthorized immigrants brought to the United States as children met the age at entry and years of U.S. residence requirements to qualify for DACA. Of that number, an estimated 1.3 million immediately met all requirements to apply; 790,000 of these received DACA status, while the others did not apply. Another 398,000 could have met eligibility by completing additional educational requirements. And 228,000 would have become eligible once they turned 15. All told, roughly 40 percent of the DACA population has benefited from the program’s grant of protection from deportation and work authorization...

Read the full article at Migration Policy Institute