Ella Lane
January 8th, 2019
Trump Administration threatens Dream ACT
The mistreatment of children of undocumented immigrants in the United States of
America is a prevalent issue in today’s society. The threat to immigrants - particularly those
who are undocumented- is greater than ever with current President Donald Trump in power
and the unknown fate of the DACA act. The policies of DACA- Deferred Action for Childhood
Arrivals- are constantly being questioned, however the policies although not perfect, are key to
protecting undocumented immigrants under the Trump Administration, and rectifying the abuse
and limited opportunity of illegal aliens.
Mistreatment of child immigrants begin the moment they arrive in the United States,
with many facing abuse at the hands of CBP officials. Reports claim the violence ranges from
children being punched in the head, kicked in the ribs, leaving a premature baby in an
unsanitary cell surrounded by illness, sexual abuse, and denying a pregnant women medical
attention leading to the still birth of her child (ACLU, New Repot Is Based On thousands OF
Government Document Obtained Through The Freedom of Information Act That Detail Horrific
Stories, 2018). Trump responded to this report claiming “[The Undocumented Children] look so
innocent, but they’re not innocent.” (Seung Min Kim, Trump Warns Against Admitting
Unaccompanied Migrant Children: They’re not Innocent, 2018)
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals act, otherwise known as DACA was introduced by
President Barrack Obama in June 2012, with policy officially being implemented in August
2012. The aim of the executive order was to allow individuals brought into the United States
prior to their 16th Birthday who had also been residents of the United States since June 15th
2007, the opportunity to apply for two years of deferred action (Tal Kopan, What is Daca and
Why is it Ending?, 2018). This means their deportation would be extended by two years and
they would be granted a permit to work in the United States as long as they had no prior
felonies or serious misdemeanours (Joseph Nevins, Obama’s Immigration Reform for Youth: A
Dream Deferred, 2012)
The program was immediately successful with crowds gathering across the United
States the morning the policy was implemented, registration organizers were forced turn away
thousands of Undocumented Immigrants as lines extended out into the street. Felipe Calderon
Mexican called DACA a “humanitarian action” and “unprecedented.” In November 2014 while
announcing the new DAPA program, Obama also extended the DACA program to include more
immigrants, the new combination of these two programs would help 4.4 million undocumented
immigrants. (National Immigration Law Centre, The Obama Administration’s DAPA and
Expanded DACA Programs, 2015) It was shown that following the implementation of DACA
there was a reduction in poverty and mental health of immigrants involved, as well as growth in
employment status. (The Lancet Pub...
