400,000 Illegal Aliens Receive Deferred Action Through DACA Program in First Year
According to numerous news sources, approximately 400,000 illegal aliens have received deferred action preventing them from deportation proceedings through the Obama Administration DACA program. DACA - Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals - grants deferred action to any illegal alien 30 years of age or younger who can prove they came to the United States at a young age. The deferred action is good for two years and allows certain illegal aliens to receive work permits should they meet certain criteria.
Of all the applications received by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, only 1% were denied deferred action through the program. The majority of applications came from California, Texas, New Your, Illinois, and Florida.
"Because of the action we have undertaken through the DACA process, thousands of hardworking young people who are American in every way but a piece of paper now have the ability to continue their educations and contribute to their communities," DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano said in a blog post yesterday marking the one-year anniversary.
The Department of Homeland Security is pointing to the "success" of the department's handling of the DACA program as proof that it can handle a mass influx of amnesty applications should Congress pass a mass amnesty bill for illegal aliens. Gang of 8 Member Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) is also using the success of the program to argue that if Congress doesn't pass an amnesty bill, then Pres. Obama will use a similar program to legalize the remaining 11 million illegal aliens living in the United States.
"I believe that this president will be tempted, if nothing happens in Congress, to issue an executive order as he did for the Dream Act kids a year ago, where he basically legalizes 11 million people by the sign of a pen," Sen. Rubio said earlier this week.
The Schumer-Obama amnesty bill, S.744, that passed through the Senate in June would grant a special path to citizenship for illegal aliens who came to the United States at a young age. Where the majority of illegal aliens would not be eligible to receive green cards for 10 years and only after certain enforcement measures are met, "Dreamers" would be eligible for green cards after only 5 years and are not subject to any of the "triggers." Regardless of the situation, all 11 million illegal aliens would receive near-instant legalization and work permits under the bill.
For more information on DACA, see the National Journal and DACAFacts.com.