Expert: DACA reversal ‘detrimental’ to ‘Dreamers’ and US economy

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The end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA would be “detrimental” to those 800 thousand young people, known as “Dreamers,” who are registered with the US government program, said Li Jinzhao, a professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University on CGTN’s The Point (@thepointwithlx).

DACA, which protects the undocumented children of immigrants from being deported, was enacted during Barack Obama's administration in 2012. US President Donald Trump has urged Congress to find a replacement for the program before it is phased out in six months’ time.

Latino-Americans entering the US through Mexico are major registrants of DACA.

“If they are sent back, it means they have to start all over again,” said Li. “A lot of them will suffer separation with their families in the US.”

According to Laura Schwartz, adviser to former US President Bill Clinton during his administration, 86 percent of Americans believe the program should stay in place. She added, “those ‘Dreamers' who are going to school, who have jobs, and who are contributing to society and paying taxes” should stay, while speaking on The Point.

“Trump is trying to use DACA as a bargain chip to say to the Congress: I’ll let you extend DACA and make it legal, continuing as it is, but you’ve gotta fund my wall,” Schwartz noted.

During his presidential campaign, Trump vowed to build a wall along the US-Mexico border and insisted that the Mexican side pays for the construction. Instead, Trump’s scenario “does not have public support” and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto “will not pay for that border wall,” Schwartz argued.

Li also quoted recent research by the Center for American Progress as saying that the end of DACA could cause the US a potential loss of 433 billion US dollars in a decade in which the country’s consumption power would be undermined and some fiscal problems could emerge.

Earlier this month, a 65-foot-tall poster board picturing a baby looking over the American-Mexican border wall appeared in Tecate, California, in the wake of Trump’s possible reversal of DACA.

The Point with Liu Xin is a 30-minute current affairs program on CGTN. It airs weekdays at 9:30 p.m. BJT (1330GMT), with rebroadcasts at 5:30 a.m. (2130GMT) and 10:30 a.m (0230GMT).