The pathway to lawful permanent resident (LPR) status —otherwise known as getting a green card — is full of roadblocks for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) beneficiaries, according to new research from Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy.
The paper from the institute's Center for the United States and Mexico, "The Materialization of a Dream: Creating a Pathway to Permanent Residency for DACA Recipients," identifies how systems already in place can be updated to help immigrants who arrived in the U.S. unlawfully as children become permanent residents.
“Many of the young people eligible for DACA have lived in the U.S. for nearly their entire lives, have parents who have struggled to give them a future in the country, and know no other home. Yet with no status in the U.S. and nowhere else to turn, they are forced to live in constant fear of the looming threat of deportation,” wrote Catherine Glazer, a consultant with the Baker Institute who authored the paper.
Since its introduction in 2012, DACA has enabled about 700,000 people facing deportation — commonly referred to as "Dreamers" based on failed legislation called the DREAM Act — to stay and legally work in the U.S. More than 250,000 U.S. citizens have at least one parent who is a DACA recipient, according to the paper.
“With their history of being productive — working, studying and protecting the U.S. through military service — as well as their promise of growth toward accomplishing so much more, overlooking an unlawful entry into the U.S. and enabling fulfilment of this dream would hardly be a form of forgiveness; it would be a rational solution to a unique predicament,” Glazer wrote.
“Given that 'Dreamers' are ideal immigrants who likely already speak English fluently, have studied in the U.S. and are serving as hard workers in many different sectors, it is in the country’s best interest to grant them, at the very minimum, immediate status and a pathway to citizenship, the equal footing on U.S. soil that they have earned,” she continued.
President Joe Biden announced a plan to preserve and even expand the DACA program in a memorandum on his first day in office, but Glazer argues he should achieve such goals through “swift and unambiguous” executive orders.
“Expedited and streamlined (if not immediate) LPR status is long overdue,” she wrote. “An accompanying law solidifying these measures and potentially creating a new immigrant category under which all 'Dreamers' can qualify for LPR status will be the next critical step.
“If the next administration starts off a new year and a new era by putting this momentum in place, 'Dreamers' will finally be able to wake up from what has been, for many of them, a nightmare, and see the realization of their dreams: a complete life in the U.S. with permanent status,” she continued.
The paper is the first in a series on immigration funded by the Charles Koch Foundation.