November 2022 Hot Topic — Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)
Speaker: Jazmin Ramirez, a community organizer at Tennessee Immigrant and Refugees Rights Coalition. She is currently leading youth organizing, electoral work and rapid response. She has helped lead the fight for in-state tuition for undocumented students in Tennessee.
DACA, an acronym for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, is a policy established by President Obama in 2012 that protects around 800,000 young people — known as “DREAMers” — who entered the United States unlawfully as children. The program does not grant them official legal status or a pathway to citizenship, but it does allow them to apply for a driver’s license, a social security number, work permit and protection from deportation.
Ramirez provided important background on DACA, the changes from the Obama through the Trump Administration, and what the current Biden Administration plans for the program.
Learn more at TENNESSEE IMMIGRANT & REFUGEE RIGHTS COALITION