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Mass Deportations Would Harm Immigrants and the Country
The mass deportations promised by Project 2025 would sweep away the dreams of DACA recipients like me and cause a logistical disaster, taking decades and costing billions.
Aug 12, 2024
There’s an image that’s stayed with me for weeks: A sea of people holding up “Mass Deportation Now” signs at the Republican National Convention.
Since then, I’ve been plagued with nightmares of mass raids by the military and police across the country. I see millions of families being torn apart, including families with citizen children. And I see DACA recipients—like me—carried away from the only life we’ve ever known.
Mass deportation wasn’t just a rallying cry at the GOP convention. It’s a key plank of Project 2025, a radical document written by white nationalists listing conservative policy priorities for the next administration.
Imagine your friends, neighbors, colleagues, peers, and caretakers being dragged away from their homes.
And it would be a disaster—not just for immigrants, but for our whole country.
I moved to the United States when I was six. Until my teenage years, I didn’t know I was undocumented—I only knew I was from the Philippines. I grew up in Chicago with my twin brother. Our parents worked hard, volunteered at my elementary school, and ensured we always had food on the table. They raised us to do well and be good people.
But when my twin and I learned that we were undocumented, we realized that living our dreams was going to be complicated—on top of the lasting fear of being deported.
Everything changed right before I entered high school in 2012: The Obama administration announced the Deferred Actions for Childhood Arrivals policy, or DACA. The program was designed to protect young people like my twin and me who arrived in the U.S. at a young age with limited or no knowledge of our life before. We’re two of the 600,000 DACA recipients today.
DACA opened many doors for us. It’s allowed to drive, attend college, and have jobs. And we’re temporarily exempt from deportation, a status we have to renew every two years.
DACA helped me set my sights high on my studies and career. Although I couldn’t apply for federal aid, with DACA I became eligible for a program called QuestBridge that granted me a full-ride scholarship to college. Today I work in public policy in the nation’s capital, with dreams of furthering my career through graduate school.
But if hardliners eliminate DACA and carry out their mass deportations, those dreams could be swept away. And it would be ugly—mass deportation would be a logistical disaster, taking decades and costing billions.
Imagine your friends, neighbors, colleagues, peers, and caretakers being dragged away from their homes. For me, it would mean being forced back to the Philippines, a place I haven’t seen in two decades. My partner, my friends, my work—all I’ve ever known is here, in the country I call home.
This country would suffer, too.
An estimated 11 million undocumented people live here. We’re doctors, chefs, librarians, construction workers, lawyers, drivers, scientists, and business owners. We fill labor shortages and help keep inflation down. We contribute nearly $100 billion each year to federal, state, and local taxes.
Fear-mongering politicians want you to believe we’re criminals, or that we’re voting illegally. But again and again, studies find that immigrants commit many fewer crimes than U.S.-born Americans. And though some of us have been long-time residents of this country, we cannot vote in state or federal elections.
Despite all the divisive rhetoric, the American people agree with immigration advocates: Our country needs to offer immigrants a path to legalization and citizenship. According to a Gallup poll last year, 68% of Americans support this.
My dark dreams of mass deportations are, thankfully, just nightmares for now. And my dreams of a secure future for my family and all people in this country outweigh my fears. We must do everything possible to keep all families together.
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'More of This, Please': Advocates Outraged by Biden Asylum Ban Praise New Actions
"While his recent asylum ban order was the wrong approach, we commend President Biden for meeting the moment," said one campaigner. "This proves that leading with morality, compassion, and a smart approach is possible."
Jun 18, 2024
Just weeks after blasting U.S. President Joe Biden's asylum ban as "a monstrosity" that echoed the approach of his predecessor, migrant rights advocates on Tuesday pointed to new executive action as proof that humane immigration policies are possible and necessary.
Biden announced that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will take action so that certain noncitizen spouses and children of U.S. citizens can "apply for lawful permanent residence—status that they are already eligible for—without leaving the country," which is expected to protect approximately half a million spouses and 50,000 children.
"Tackling the challenges faced by migrants and American families of mixed-immigration status requires bold and visionary leadership," declared Yareliz Mendez-Zamora, the Florida Immigrant Coalition (FLIC) federal campaign lead. "While his recent asylum ban order was the wrong approach, we commend President Biden for meeting the moment with this order."
"This proves that leading with morality, compassion, and a smart approach is possible," Mendez-Zamora stressed. "With this, he also starts fulfilling the promises he made to our communities during his 2020 campaign. More of this, please!"
"President Biden has finally chosen to listen to advocates who have relentlessly pushed for action from his administration."
The Democratic president—who is set to face former Republican President Donald Trump, infamous for forcibly separating migrant families at the southern border, in the November election—is also easing the work visa process for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients and other Dreamers who have graduated from U.S. colleges.
"Offering talented workers the opportunity to continue contributing to our country and economy is timely as DACA hangs by a thread," said FLIC executive director Tessa Petit. "This does not eliminate the need for bold congressional action; DACA recipients are Americans in all measures but paperwork, and giving them a permanent solution is morally imperative."
Several other advocates and lawmakers in Congress—including some who have criticized Biden when he has pursued anti-migrant policies reminiscent of Trump's first term—also celebrated the new moves.
"From winning DACA 12 years ago, to winning healthcare for more undocumented folks earlier this year, to now delivering even more expansive, life-changing relief for hundreds of thousands of people, none of these victories would have been possible without our movement showing up every day to fight for our lives and our rights," said Greisa Martinez Rosas, executive director of United We Dream.
"We recognize this moment as a victory for our movement, a step in the right direction for President Biden, and a recommitment to continue to fight for the day where ALL people have the dignity and freedom to stay and freedom to thrive," she added.
Praising the plan to help families stay together, Analilia Mejia and DaMareo Cooper, executive directors of the Center for Popular Democracy, said that "this win is emblematic of decades of work immigrant communities have been doing to create a more dignified system."
"President Biden has finally chosen to listen to advocates who have relentlessly pushed for action from his administration," the pair added. "We're ready to continue the work alongside his administration to fix our broken immigration system and provide a pathway to citizenship for all."
The ACLU—which last week filed a lawsuit over the Biden administration's recently unveiled asylum restrictions—also welcomed Tuesday's developments.
"We applaud President Biden," said Deirdre Schifeling, the ACLU's chief political and advocacy officer. "This policy will help keep committed, loving families together, which strengthens all of our communities and is popular with voters. This act by the president is the type of humane and commonsense action that has made America stronger, with resilient, hardworking, and patriotic people coming to our cities and small towns, building lives and vibrant, stable communities, generation upon generation."
Other supporters of the actions include America's Voice, American Immigration Lawyers Association, CASA in Action, FWD.us, Living United for Change in Arizona, Make the Road New York, National Immigration Law Center, NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, and Poder Latinx as well as progressive leaders in Congress, such as Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), and Greg Casar (D-Texas).
"Disappointingly, the announced policy continues to harness the same framing of 'national security' and 'public safety.'"
Sirine Shebaya, executive director of the National Immigration Project, said that "we join our communities and fellow advocates in celebrating the tremendous grassroots efforts that led to this executive action. The announcement is a hard-fought victory that will provide much-needed relief and stability to hundreds of thousands of families who will finally be able to live without fear of being torn apart."
"We urge the administration to implement this relief broadly, without exclusions," she emphasized. "Disappointingly, the announced policy continues to harness the same framing of 'national security' and 'public safety' that DHS has long used as pretexts to exclude many Black, brown, Muslim, Arab, Asian, and other immigrants of color from critical protections."
"While this is a step in the right direction, we urge the administration to use this momentum to truly deliver on the promise it made to protect immigrant communities," she added. "As we enter another election season, our communities urgently need bold, permanent, and inclusive relief. We join the chorus of voices advocating for permanent protections for all of our community members, including the many who were excluded in today's announcement."
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Jayapal Applauds Biden for DACA Healthcare Expansion
While continuing to push Congress to establish a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, said Biden, "we need to give Dreamers the opportunities and support they deserve."
Apr 13, 2023
U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal was among the immigrant rights advocates who praised an announcement by the Biden administration on Thursday regarding a rule change that will allow immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children to obtain health coverage under the Medicaid and Affordable Care Act programs—a move that could benefit up to 580,000 people who are recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA.
President Joe Biden announced that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will move to change the definition of people who have a "lawful presence" in the U.S. for the purposes of obtaining healthcare under the ACA and Medicaid—amending it to include DACA recipients.
The change is expected to be final "by the end of the month," said the president.
Jayapal called the proposal "a long overdue step toward justice."
\u201cHealth care is a human right, and DACA recipients deserve access to that care just like everyone else. Glad to see the Biden Administration move to provide coverage to them and take a long overdue step toward justice. https://t.co/bbuLOdmddG\u201d— Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@Rep. Pramila Jayapal) 1681403156
The Washington Democrat chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus, which released its 2023 Executive Action Agenda last month that included a call for the administration to "eliminate all eligibility barriers to health services under the Affordable Care Act for DACA recipients."
The president emphasized that he is still pushing the U.S. Congress to establish a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants including DACA recipients, but said that in the meantime, "we need to give Dreamers the opportunities and support they deserve," referring to the name rights advocates use for people who benefit from the Obama-era program.
\u201cToday, my Administration is announcing our plan to expand health coverage for Dreamers, the thousands of young people brought to the U.S. as kids.\n\nWe\u2019re not done fighting for their pathway to citizenship, but we're getting them the opportunities they deserve in the meantime.\u201d— President Biden (@President Biden) 1681394687
Nearly half of undocumented immigrants lack health insurance, and HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra noted Thursday that number includes about one-third of the 580,000 people who are currently enrolled in DACA.
"Today's rule would change that," said Becerra.
The national advocacy group Mi Familia Vota said the "expansion of critical healthcare programs to DACA recipients" was a positive step as advocates "work to create structural changes to fully include all immigrants."
\u201cMFV applauds the expansion of critical healthcare programs to DACA recipients. We must now work to create structural changes to fully include all immigrants. We look forward to continuing to work with the Biden administration to fix our immigration system. https://t.co/1WIsTYAzIi\u201d— Mi Familia Vota (@Mi Familia Vota) 1681408789
"While we continue fighting for a pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients, it's important to ensure they have access to the healthcare they deserve," said Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez, president of Next Gen America. "This will improve the way of life of hundreds of thousands of people."
The new proposed rule comes nearly three years after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected former Republican President Donald Trump's attempt to dismantle the DACA program.
Republican plaintiffs won a case in Texas in 2021 in which they claimed former Democratic President Barack Obama acted unlawfully when he created the program without an act of Congress. The Biden administration appealed that ruling and a federal appeals court sent the case back the the lower court in October, but allowed current DACA recipients to renew their status and retain the work permits and deportation protections the program affords them.
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