More than twice the 800,000 young adult illegal immigrants in the Obama-era deportation deferral program are eligible for it, according to a new report out on the eve of President Trump’s decision on extending it.
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At 1.9 million eligible for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, the total population is large enough to make the fifth largest city in America, behind Houston.
Using its own “demographic methodology” to determine the size of the DACA population, the Migration Policy Institute said that as of 2016 “there were 1.9 million unauthorized immigrants potentially eligible for DACA.”
Prior estimates went only as high as 1.1 million.
MPI, however, reported that there are 1.3 million who meet all of the eligibility criteria, which covers when they arrived and education and employment requirements. Then it adds in 398,000 illegals who meet all but the education requirement, but could. And finally, MPI adds 228,000 children who arrived in the U.S. younger than the minimum age of 15 but “will age into eligibility provided they stay in school.”
On Friday, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said that some 790,000 young “dreamers” have received work permits and deportation relief through DACA since it was created five years ago.
The Pew Research Center explained the program this way:
It gives unauthorized immigrants who came to the U.S. before age 16 – a group sometimes called “Dreamers” – a chance to stay in the U.S. to study or work, provided they meet certain conditions such as being enrolled in high school or having a high school degree or GED equivalent, and not having a serious criminal conviction. Those approved for the program are given a work permit and protection from deportation for two years, and these benefits can be renewed.
Trump is reportedly leaning against extending the program. He is to announce his decision Tuesday. During the presidential campaign, he promised to kill it.
Republican and Democratic lawmakers, however, are urging him to extend it, worried it would result in the deportation of many who have lived most of their lives in the U.S.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]
