President Obama enacted DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) to protect 800,000 young people, illegally brought to the country by their parents, from deportation and to allow them to legally go to school or work (Gonzales). President Trump reversed these protections and asked Congress to take action but no progress has been made on the issue so far. President Trump should do the right thing and reinstate DACA until Congress rises up to the challenge and enact a permanent solution for the Dreamers. DACA is the right policy not just because it is moral and ethical but also due to its tremendous economic benefits for the country.

DACA should be reinstated because the Dreamers can make valuable economic contributions to the only country they have known. Passing the Dream Act would increase the national GDP by $281 billion over the next decade. Providing a legal path to the Dreamers would also help raise the average wage levels in the country. It is estimated that the passage of Dream Act may increase the per capita income of Americans by between $82 and $273 on an annual basis (Ortega, Edwards and Wolgin). Many Dreamers have graduated from college or are pursuing college degrees. These Dreamers will be able to pursue high income jobs if they are given permanent legal status, and can contribute to the country that has been good to them. It is clear that the U.S. will be better off economically if the Dreamers are provided a legal path to citizenship and allowed to make contributions to the national economy.

American culture and traditions place huge emphasis on families. DACA should be reinstated because the failure to do so will be catastrophic for families with at least one member who is a Dreamer. First of all, many Dreamers are parents to children who are U.S. citizens by birth. If these Dreamer parents are deported, their citizen children would lose the guidance and love of their parents. The average age of a Dreamer is about 25, and 1 in 4 Dreamers are parent to a U.S.-born child. If we also take other family members besides children into account, then 3 in 4 Dreamers have a child, spouse, or sibling who is a citizen (Michaels). President Trump should reinstate DACA because it would protect many American families from breaking up.

It is hard not to see the similarities between the early immigrants to America and the current undocumented population, many of whom are the Dreamers. For example, 50,000 children were prevented from crossing the U.S-Mexico border between October 2013 and June 2014, and three-fourths of these migrants were from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, three countries with high rates of violence (Leber). America has a long history of being a safe home for migrants who were persecuted in their homelands. It would be against American values to send back the Dreamers to their home countries that are still suffering from high rates of violence.

President Trump should reinstate DACA so that the Dreamers do not have to live under constant fear of deportation. The Dreamers should also be allowed to stay because they can make valuable economic contributions to the country. Deporting the Dreamers would break up a significant number of American families because most Dreamers have at least one family member who is an American citizen. It is also important to realize that many Dreamers came with their families who were escape the violence in their home countries because high rates of violence are not uncommon in many Central American countries including Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Mexico.