The upsurge in immigration brought about increasing figures to the United States, which went from 841,000 immigrants in 2000 to a total number of one million legal immigrants by 2001. This number reportedly remained unchanged in 2002, but the total number of immigrants dropped significantly in 2003 to 703,000. This drop was a direct result of the impact of the terrorist attacks of September 2011 and the fear of the loss of safety. In New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania, Congress quickly passed the Patriot Act Title IV, ” Protecting the Border,” to address the problem. In 2002 the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was founded because of the reorganization of multiple agencies under the Homeland Security Act of 2002, and many immigration and naturalization functions were brought under the umbrella of the DHS, including the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS), and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). These new agencies use various technologies to monitor the entry of non-U.S. citizens. With the rise of legal immigration, illegal migration was also growing, and the Pew Research Center estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States which is about 5% of the working population.
Failure to pass the Dream Act instigated action from the executive branch and President Obama for the formation Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival Bill. The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) of 1952 was a comprehensive plan for specifying certain categories of “aliens” who are inadmissible to and removable from the country. DHS and its predecessors, including the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), have been deporting unauthorized immigrants for more than a century and have applied discretion to determine whether to pursue or defer deportations. So, on June 15, 2012, the secretary of Homeland Security announced that certain people who came to the United States as children and meet several guidelines may request consideration of deferred action for two years, subject to renewal. It is reported that they accepted 1.5 million applications from 2012 to 2016; and of that total number, 667,000 were renewal applications. Of the 1.5 million applications submitted,1.3 million were approved. Deferred action also allowed immigrants to gain work authorization in the United States and provide lawful temporary status for the duration of the two-year deferment. This permission can be terminated or renewed at any time based on its discretion. Regulation (8 CFC §274a.12(c)(14)) permits an individual receiving deferred action to obtain employment authorization based on proof of his or her need to sustain themselves economically.
Save your time!
We can take care of your essay
- Proper editing and formatting
- Free revision, title page, and bibliography
- Flexible prices and money-back guarantee
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service has accepted 1.5 million applications from 2012 to 2016; of that number, 667,000 were renewal applications. Of that 1.5 million, 1.3 million were approved. Anyone requesting DACA must have been under the age of 31 as of June 15, 2012. You must also be 15 years or older to request DACA unless you are currently in removal proceedings or have a final removal or voluntary departure order against you. Deferred Action is done on a case basis. On November 20, 2014, the Department issued a new memorandum, expanding the parameters of DACA and creating a new policy Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (“DAPA”). This new bill allowed for the expansion of coverage and criteria of the 2012 DACA bill to include people with a wider range of ages and arrival dates and lengthening the period of deferred action and work authorization from two years to three years. The November 20, 2014 memorandum instructed USCIS to come up with a process like the DACA guidelines, prosecutorial discretion using deferred action to be determined on a case basis, to certain aliens who have “a son or daughter who is a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident.” In February 2015 U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen of Brownsville, Texas, issued a nationwide injunction to prevent the DAPA policy from taking effect. He based his actions on a lawsuit brought by Texas lawyers and 25 other states, all of whom were Republican governors, alleging the DAPA policy was illegal because Congress had not granted such broad relief.
Historically, the process of immigration has been good for the cultural, economic, and social welfare of many states. The immigrant’s education is vast and different and has in some instances resulted in the growth of multicultural societies whose diversity and ethnicities have derived from previous periods of immigration. The increase in Democratic turnout an attributed to DACA and border matters being discussed as elections were close and a change of power imminent. With the Obama era coming to an end, the terms that protected 800,000 adolescent undocumented immigrants from deportation were in jeopardy. Even business leaders like Mark Zuckerberg and Tim Cook were worried about the possible effect that the DACA outcome would have on their personnel. Unless an alternate solution was forged, they would be forced to terminate employees whose business permits had expired.
On January 25, 2017, President Trump issued Executive Order No. 13,768, “Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States.” In that Order, the President directed federal agencies to enforce the faithful execution of the immigration laws against all removable aliens and established new immigration enforcement priorities. Trump, to gain leverage for more border security agreed to give to the “idealist’ as DACA recipients were sometimes referred to. Some supporters of deporting the DACA recipients wanted Republicans to also add legislation that would dramatically alter or decrease legitimate immigration to the United States.
While the DACA program withstood the Trump administration's effort to end it, it is currently facing its most lethal legal test. U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Hanen is set to issue a ruling in a lawsuit filed by Texas' Republican attorney general, who is seeking to have the Obama-era program declared unlawful and gradually terminated. These cases are the reason the system is being challenged and can be a dire threat if the Trump administration does not step in to support it. “Texas Attorney Ken Paxton has argued that DACA is unlawful, in part because the Obama administration did not implement the program through the federal government's rule-making process or allow the public to comment on the policy
In August 2018, Hanen ruled in Paxton's favor, saying DACA may have violated federal immigration law and that the program should ” at least undergo the formalities of notice and comment.” Hanen, however, did not order an end to DACA, saying Texas waited too long, nearly six years, to challenge the Obama-era program in court.” (Montoya-Galves, 2021)
On February 20, 2017, then-Secretary of Homeland Security John F. Kelly issued an implementing memorandum, stating the Department will no longer exempt classes or categories of removable aliens from potential enforcement except under the conditions provided in the Department’s June 15, 2012 memorandum establishing DACA.
Stuck on your essay?
