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DAPA and DACA Immigrants Have a Positive Role in the America’s Economy

By immigrationprof

Guest blogger: Lizett Rodriguez, second-year law student, University of San Francisco:

What would be the benefits of the implementation of the new DAPA and DACA expansion immigration programs?

According to the Department of Homeland Security, the President asked Secretary Johnson and Attorney General Eric Holder to perform “a rigorous and inclusive review to inform recommendations on reforming our broken immigration system through executive action.”  Secretary Johnson and Attorney General Eric Holder identified ten areas within the confines of the law that can be implemented to “increase border security, focus enforcement resources, and ensure accountability in our immigration system.” 

 On November 20, 2014, President Barack Obama announced the ten executive actions to improve America’s immigration system, which included the expansion of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Program and the establishment of the Deferred Action to Parents of American and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA). 

The new executive action expanded eligibility for DACA to include a broader class of children. DACA is a program administered by USCIS that provides temporary relief from deportation and gives work permit authorization to young people that were brought to the United States as children, who some refer to as “DREAMers.” Originally, DACA eligibility was limited to those who entered the U.S. before June 15, 2007, were under 31 years of age on June 15, 2007, and who were under 16 years old when they entered. The new DACA eligibility includes all undocumented immigrants who entered the U.S. before the age of 16, and not only those born after June 15, 1981. Also, the entry date has been adjusted from June 15, 2007, to January 1, 2010, and the relief such as the work authorization permits will now last for three years rather than two years. 

In addition, President Obama took executive action that established the new DAPA policy that extends eligibility to “individuals who (i) are not removal priorities under the new policy (Priority 1: threats to national security, border security, and public safety; Priority 2: misdemeanants and new immigration violators; Priority 3: other immigration violations, (ii) have been in this country at least 5 years, (iii) have children who on the date of the announcement (November 20, 2014) are U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents, and (iv) present no other factors that would make a grant of deferred actions inappropriate.” 

The DAPA program provides undocumented immigrants a temporary relief from deportation and provides a work permit authorization to undocumented parents of U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents for a period of three years after passing a background check.

The implementation of DAPA can produce positive economic and fiscal benefits to the United States. The Center for American Progress states that if more than 5.2 million individuals are able to work legally and live without fear of deportation, they will have the opportunity to find a job that matches their skill set, which will create a larger and more fiscally productive workforce. In addition, their lawful work authorization will make them less vulnerable to wage theft and workplace exploitation. These factors will increase job security and potentially lead to higher wages that can generate more tax revenue. 

The opponents of the DAPA program are ignoring the economic benefits of the immigration program. Based on data from the Migration Policy Institute and the Center for American Progress, 72 percent of the undocumented population participates in the labor force, and 3.7 million individuals will be eligible for the DAPA program. If the 3.7 million undocumented immigrants obtain relief from deportation and are granted work authorization, DAPA would result in payroll tax increases of $16.7 over five years and increase the gross domestic product to $164 billion over 10 years. In addition, DAPA would result in an $88 billion increase in incomes for all Americans, creating 20,538 jobs per year over the next 10 years. Work authorization provides an undocumented individual the ability to easily change jobs if the wages are low, which is one reason for why American average incomes may increase.

In addition, the White House Council of Economic Advisers also estimates that the new DACA/DAPA programs would increase the GDP by 0.4 percent ($90 billion) after ten years. The expansion of the programs will increase the American labor force by nearly 150,000 workers over the next ten years, which will result in higher labor force participation that can increase the productivity of American workers. This will increase the productivity of American workers because of the increased labor market flexibility where individuals can easily move from one job to another. Also, implementation of the programs will decrease the federal deficit by $25 billion by 2024 (after ten years). DAPA also would raise the average wage for U.S.- born workers by 0.3 percent, as employers may be discouraged to pay lower wages to undocumented immigrants because work authorization will required employers to respect the minimum wage requirements.

The Institute on Tax and Economic Policy recognizes the potential economic benefits of DAPA and DACA because undocumented immigrants make a significant contribution to state and local taxes. According to the Institute on Tax and Economic Policy, undocumented immigrants collectively pay an estimated $11.64 billion a year in state and local taxes.  In California, a “home to more than 3 million undocumented immigrants, the contribution [is] more than $3.1 billion, compared to Montana where the population of undocumented immigrants is 4,000 people . . . yet they contribute almost $2.2 million to the state and local taxes.” Furthermore, “undocumented immigrants nationwide pay an average of 8 percent of their income in state and local taxes.” The implementation of both DAPA and DACA plus would allow more undocumented individuals to work legally and benefit the states because their local and state tax contribution will increase to $2.1 billion a year, increasing their tax rate to 8.6 percent. These programs would make millions of immigrants eligible to continue contributing to the states’ growth by increasing the state residents’ income, and tax revenue despite the fact that they are only eligible for limited state and federal benefits. Therefore, immigrants are not taking jobs away from Americans, instead they are creating jobs and helping boost our economy.

The American Immigration Council conducted a study of 2,381 individuals who received DACA within the first 16 months of the implementation of the program to illustrate how DACA program impacted young individuals.  In 2015, the DHS approved about 155,812 DACA applications. Based on the American Immigration Council study, the ability to legally work in the United States integrated more young individuals into economic and social institutions. For example, almost 60 percent of the DACA beneficiaries obtained a new job after receiving DACA, and 45 percent increased their earnings. Clearly, DACA had a direct economic boost because the new jobs and higher earnings were linked to greater tax revenue. Also, DACA beneficiaries were able to obtain driver’s licenses that served as I.D.s allowing them to open bank accounts and obtain credit cards. In 2014, about 49 percent of the DACA beneficiaries who participated in the study opened their first bank account, and 33 percent obtained their first credit card. Thus, the DACA expansion would lead to a larger number of beneficiaries, strengthening human and social capital with corresponding participation in the economy and post-secondary institutions.

Today, we await the Supreme Court’s decision on the implementation of President Obama’s immigration initiatives. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services planned to begin implementation of DAPA on May 19, 2015. However, in Texas and 25 other states filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of President Obama’s executive orders.  In February 2015, Judge Andrew Hanen of the Southern District of Texas court ruled in favor of Texas and issued a preliminary injunction against the programs, causing a temporary blockage. He ruled that the states have standing to file the lawsuit, ignoring the economic and fiscal benefits that DACA and DAPA will generate and basing his ruling on the cost imposed to Texas from issuing driver’s licenses to DACA and DAPA recipients.

After the Texas ruling, the Department of Justice recognizing the economic benefits of the program filed an emergency stay at the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals asking to remove the preliminary injunction. Fifteen states including the District of Columbia filed an amicus brief in support of the immigration programs. 

On November 2015, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the district court’s order granting the preliminary injunction, and on January 2016, the Supreme Court announced that it would review the Fifth Circuit’s decision. Its decision is expected by June.

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