DACA: Deferring Deportation for Immigrant Kids - Essay Sample

Introduction

President Obama's administration deployed the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in June 2012, offering protection to the individuals who illegally immigrated into the United States as children and had continuously resided in the country for the last five years (Homeland Security, 2019). DACA deferred the deportation of the migrants for at least two years, which could be renewed as long as the initiative was eligible. The set criteria before qualifying for the program included being 31 years of age as of June 2012, arrived in the US before the 16th birthday, no legal issues including a conviction for felonies graduated or still in school and physically present in the US during the enactment of the program (Homeland Security, 2019). By early 2018, more than two million migrants made their application, and eight-seven percent of the applicants met the outlined criteria (Counsel for Amici Curiae, 2017). The program changed the lives of the illegal migrants, opening doors for professionals in medicine and nursing, among other occupations in healthcare. Some states already authorized the licensure of the DACA nurses and doctors to increase the size of the healthcare workforce to meet the high demand for medical care. Therefore, dismantling DACA will not only affect the livelihoods of the dreamers but also have both positive and negative ramifications on the quantity and quality of health care in the United States, and the economy of the country as a whole.

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The nursing profession in the United States continues to face shortages as the demand for caregivers escalates. For instance, as the Baby Boomers continue to age; thus, the need for health care increases in the country (Haddad & Toney-Butler, 2019). The nation expects a 73 percent increase in the population of the elderly aged 65 years and above by 2020, making 20 percent of the overall population (Haddad & Toney-Butler, 2019). The rise in the demand for healthcare will also face the acute shortage of the healthcare workforce. According to the Journal of Nursing Regulation, the profession faces a high rate of retirements, and by 2030 approximately one million registered nurses would have retired. Although the number of DACA recipients taking nursing programs is unknown, more than 27,000 undocumented migrants work in the health care industry as dentists, nurses, physicians, and doctors in the United States (Harris, 2019). Denying the workers the licenses to work as healthcare givers will only worsen the situation as it will only leave a professional and healthcare gap to fill when the nation is already facing and expecting more shortages. The healthcare profession needs more workers than never before. If the administration dismantles DACA, the government will need approximately 27,000 more healthcare givers to fill the gap left by the migrants. Yet, the country needs at least one million nurses to replace the retired nurses and more healthcare givers to cater for the needs of the aging baby boomers.

DACA recipients play a significant role in providing care to patients in the regions that face shortages of healthcare professionals and lack access to health care in the United States. For example, recently, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) identified over 5000 regions in the United States that face a shortage of mental-health providers (Counsel for Amici Curiae, 2017). Additionally, DACA healthcare workers will help in responding to such cases to improve the health of Americans. As ascertained by previous studies, the under-represented communities in medicine are more likely to work with underserved communities. For instance, DACA nurses from Mexico would be willing to offer their services to the populations of Texas that face a shortage of healthcare because they understand how it feels like to be neglected. Some states, such as Arkansas, already recognized the critical role DACA recipients play in the underserved regions and rural areas. The state reversed its decision to stop licensure of the nurses after realizing the impact it would have on the health of the people in such areas. Other states with underserved communities such as Illinois, Nevada, Indiana, and Nebraska have supported DACA recipients, offering them financial aid to pursue their medical education and training (Counsel for Amici Curiae, 2017). Therefore, the abolition of the program will be a big blow to the underserved communities and regions that have relied on the professional help of the DACA recipients to provide healthcare in impoverished communities.

Furthermore, the ongoing global coronavirus pandemic aggravates the need for more healthcare givers to contain the growing number of patients. According to the report released by CDC, the number of COVID-19 patients in the United States as by April 2nd was 213,144, which requires the nation to mobilize as much healthcare workforce as possible (Newman, 2020). Dismantling the DACA program will create more chaos in an already chaotic situation. The nation cannot replace the DACA healthcare workforce in such a short span to combat the viral disease. Additionally, nurses are at risk of contracting the virus as they do whatever it takes to help the patients recover (Newman, 2020). For instance, in China, more than 3,387 health workers were infected with hundreds of succumbing to the disease (Jiang et al., 2020). The pandemic will deprive the nation of a good number of healthcare professionals as their constant interaction with the infected patients increase their likelihood of contradicting and succumbing to the virus. Therefore Instead of abolishing DACA, the government should embrace the program in response to the current situation and its aftermath.

Dismantling DACA will result in a concrete loss to the teaching and training schools and hospitals and the healthcare industry at large. For instance, training institutions have put the substantial investment of resources and time in the DACA recipients with the expectation that they would eligibly put their medical knowledge and skills into practice (Counsel for Amici Curiae, 2017). Further, the county could effectively utilize the time and money invested in the DACA recipients in the health sector in the past eight years since the enactment of the program; however, the time and resources spent on the education of DACA nurses is irrecoverable. (Counsel for Amici Curiae, 2017). If the Trump administration denies the nurses the chance to work in the United States, their departure will leave a significant and critical gap in the healthcare workforce that will require years and millions of dollars to refill (Ramos et al. 2019). Although the medical field has been working to increase its training capacity, it is nearly impossible to backfill a large number of trainees. The government can provide enough resources to support the training of the medical staff to replace the DACA recipients. However, even if the funds in the nation could be sufficient, it would take ten or more years to train and educate providers who can replace the workforce. Furthermore, completing a single nursing or medical program can take between four to ten years, which is the reason why medical schools and training hospitals strive to maintain their students (Counsel for Amici Curiae, 2017). Therefore, rescinding DACA would mean an unrecoupable loss of resources and time that the country can put somewhere else.

Rescinding DACA will also have a significant impact on the economy of America. According to the Center for American Progress report, DACA recipients add over $460.3 billion to the country's economy over a decade. Repealing the program would mean the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would lose $460.3 billion over the next decade (Joint Economic Committee Democrats, 2017). The removal of the program would lead to a loss of approximately 685,000 workers from the country's economy, leaving employers with the burden of feeling such positions. Replacing the jobs that the DACA recipients vacate will make the employers experience high turnover costs of more than $ 3.4 billion (Joint Economic Committee Democrats, 2017). Every hour spent by DACA recipients at their workplaces contributes dollars to the country's GDP, which will be lost if the country dismantles the program.

Nevertheless, repealing the program will benefit the country since it will create more vacancies to be filled by Americans legally residing in the country. DACA recipients with advanced degrees took the positions meant for the majority of Native Americans. Nursing students occupy positions in educational and training institutions that could have been given to the American citizens. Since they got the training, they occupy the jobs at the expense of the rightful owners of the professions, the native-born Americans (Chomsky, 2018). The only reason why the immigrants are contributing to the economy is that they increase the labor force and offset the aging population of native Americans. However, if the country can replace the 685,000 workers, then it will be in a position to contain the loss of the undocumented immigrant workers. For instance, the number of DACA recipients occupying healthcare professions is only 27,000, which can be replaced by the students about to complete the programs (Joint Economic Committee Democrats, 2017). Their departure will not leave a significant gap in the economy of the nation since eligible Americans will replace and occupy the positions.

The continued presence of illegal immigrants in the country will cause much havoc to the economy of the nation. The program has consequently encouraged more illegal immigrants in America, which generates diverse negative impacts on the economy of the country. Undocumented immigrants that fail to meet the qualifications of DACA will continue to stay in the country with the hope that they will eventually qualify (Linder, 2011). History reveals that legislation of immigration has always brought negative ramifications in the country. For example, in 1986, the government enacted the Immigration Reform and Control Act that legalized three million immigrants. However, between 1990 through 2007, the country experienced an increase of immigrants from 500,000 to 12.2 million (Linder, 2011). Out of the millions of DACA immigrants in America, only 685,000 are working class, contributing to the economy of the country. The influx of immigrants in the country will put pressure on the economy of the country as illegal immigrants rely on the resources meant for American citizens.

Moreover, the rise of the population of undocumented people in America threatens the social life of citizens. As President Trump ascertain, the DACA legislation that provides amnesty of most individuals from the marginalized communities like Mexican American encourages massive anti-social behaviors such as crime in the country (Fasani et al., 2019). For instance, statistically, the crime rate in the immigrant communities or regions of people of color is adamantly high compared to the native white neighborhoods. Several criminal justice cases from Italian Mafias, Colombian cocaine cartels, Cuban Marielito, Chinese triads to Japanese yakuza consequently dominate most states in the country, which presents a threat to the security, safety, and financial stability of the American people (Fasani et al., 2019). As the Trump's administration contends, most of the illegal immigrant the legislation aimed to protect are "no longer young" which makes the termination of the DACA viable, to protect the country from more illicit immigrants while allowing deportation of individuals committing crimes in the country.

The establishment of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals n...