Center for American Progress

Amid Changes to the DACA Program and COVID-19, DACA Recipients are Fired Up and Civically Engaged
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Amid Changes to the DACA Program and COVID-19, DACA Recipients are Fired Up and Civically Engaged

Tom K. Wong and others write about the results of a 2020 survey of DACA recipients.

Part of a Series

Over the past eight years, and despite relentless attacks and efforts by the Department of Homeland Security to end the program, DACA has had an outsized positive impact on the roughly 826,000 young people who have received the status.

From August 18 to September 10, 2020, Tom K. Wong of the U.S. Immigration Policy Center at the University of California, San Diego; United We Dream; the National Immigration Law Center; and the Center for American Progress fielded a national survey to further analyze the experiences of DACA recipients. This study includes 1,157 DACA recipients in 44 states as well as the District of Columbia. This is the sixth consecutive year that we have surveyed DACA recipients.

The above excerpt was originally published in United We Dream. Click here to view the full article.

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Authors

Tom K. Wong

Senior Fellow

Center For American Progress

Sanaa Abrar

Center For American Progress

Claudia Flores

Former Associate Director, Policy and Strategy

Center For American Progress

 (Tom Jawetz)

Tom Jawetz

Senior Fellow

Center For American Progress

Ignacia Rodriguez Kmec

Senior Associate, Immigration Policy

National Immigration Law Center

Juliana Macedo do Nascimento

Center For American Progress

 (Phil Wolgin)

Philip E. Wolgin

Former Managing Director, Immigration Policy

Center For American Progress

Explore The Series

Photo shows a young child wearing a white and yellow shirt and a mask with an adult's hand gently touching her head

Since 2015, the Center for American Progress, along with Tom K. Wong, United We Dream, and the National Immigration Law Center, have fielded a national survey to analyze the experiences of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients. The survey results illustrate the profound impact that DACA has on recipients’ lives and how DACA recipients make substantive contributions to their families, their communities, and the United States overall. Specifically, the results have shown how DACA protections have enabled recipients to access better educational and job opportunities. The demographic data collected by the survey enable policymakers to understand how essential DACA recipients are in the fabric of American society.

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