OPINION: Trump’s administration distorts facts about DACA recipients

By Ryann Perlstein
GSS Correspondent

From the size of the crowd at his inauguration to the types of people at the Charlottesville protests, President Donald Trump and his administration frequently exaggerate and distort facts to paint a different picture of events. The people who are part of the DACA program are just the latest victim of this trend.

DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, is an Obama-era program that allows young, undocumented immigrants to be protected from deportation, encouraging them to study and work in the United States.

Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions first announced their plan to end DACA on Sept. 5, arguing that the program participants are threats to the American economy because they take jobs away from American workers. According to Sessions, DACA has “denied jobs to hundreds of thousands of Americans by allowing those same illegal aliens to take those jobs.”

But the truth is that DACA recipients are a major part of the economy and society in the United States — if DACA were to end, it could reduce the size of the economy by $280 billion to $430 billion in the next 10 years, according to both the right-leaning Cato Institute and the left-leaning Center for American Progress.

Despite the contributions of DACA recipients, the Trump administration continues to push for reform.

“This plan will work. If followed it will produce an immigration system with integrity and one in which we can take pride,” Sessions said in a statement. “Perhaps the best result will be that unlawful attempts to enter will continue their dramatic decline.”

This cruel and inaccurate generalization could not be further from the truth. As a volunteer at 826LA, an organization that helps low-income students in Los Angeles with their reading and writing skills, I have seen firsthand the impact these people can have in their communities — as long as they are given the opportunity to do so. The majority of students at 826LA are Latino, and many of them are enrolled in the DACA program.

I started volunteering at 826LA this past summer at their annual English Language Learners summer camp for elementary and middle school age students. These kids are frequently several grades behind grade level in terms of their reading and writing abilities, since they are almost all bilingual, and English is often not their first language.

When asked to describe themselves and their preferences, the students all combined elements of American culture with the cultures of their families and/or ancestors. I remember one student, described two foods as his favorite — a traditional family recipe his mom makes, and cheeseburgers from In-N-Out. DACA recipients do not simply associate with one culture — they acknowledge that they are both American and from another culture.

These individuals actively participate in their communities, and are often law-abiding citizens; many own small businesses and greatly contribute to the economy. The notion that they should be kicked out does not seem to correspond with the values many Americans pride themselves on.

After all the progress that has been made toward equality in this country, it is deeply concerning to see the nation moving backwards.