Is DACA Enough? The Effect of DACA on Young Unauthorized Immigrants

• In Event: Immigrants, Ethnic Identity and Political Participation

Abstract

Current research on the effect of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (or DACA) is centered on economic and health outcomes. However, as DACA provides greater membership in American society, it is also important to examine its impact on political incorporation. I argue that although DACA has positively and significantly changed the lives of many undocumented young immigrants, it has also become another means of drawing a boundary of marginality based on arbitrary and subjective standards. In-depth interviews and an original experimental survey show that although DACA provides greater access to its recipients, it does not increase recipients’ propensity for civic engagement due to heightened social exclusion and the continued lack of permanent legal status. Also, regardless of DACA status, undocumented young immigrants are more likely to be engaged in safer political activities. Additionally, much research has only explored the experiences of Latino undocumented immigrants. Through comparative analysis of Asians and Latinos, I find that despite one’s actual lived experiences, young Latino undocumented immigrants are more likely to have heightened sense of deportation threat, Latinos are more likely to identify as an undocumented immigrant, and Asians are more likely to participate in riskier activities. This paper has broad implications for the study of minority civic engagement, as it provides a better understanding of how undocumented immigrants, who do not have access to formal modes of political participation, become politically incorporated.

Author

• Jessica HyunJeong Lee, College of the Holy Cross