What is the DACA story here in Alaska? On the next Hometown Alaska, we’ll meet two Alaska residents who are living this reality. We’ll find out how they arrived in the U.S. under the age of 16, how Alaska became home, how their life has progressed here and what they are busy doing in Alaska today.
DACA stands for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. “DACA kids” refers to the 800,000 undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children and received protections from deportation.
The policy was established by executive action rather than legislation, however, participating individuals are still commonly referred to as DREAMers after the DREAM Act; a bipartisan bill first proposed in 2001 that was the first of a number of subsequent efforts in the U.S. House and Senate to provide an opportunity for certain illegal immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children to attend college and eventually become permanent citizens of the United States. The key difference being that DACA provides no such path to citizenship.
President Donald Trump reversed the executive action in the fall and gave Congress six months, to March 5, to come up with a permanent solution. The legislative body did not move forward, but, a Supreme Court ruling last month means the program will continue through at least the fall as legal challenges run the normal course through the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
HOSTS: Kathleen McCoy
GUESTS:
- Robin Bronen, executive director, Alaska Institute for Justice
- HJ Kim, Alaska DACA and legal services worker
- Deicy Camarena, Alaska DACA and business owner
LINKS:
- Supreme Court keeps DACA immigration program in place for now, USA Today, 2.26.28
- What the Supreme Court ruling means for DACA and almost 700,000 undocumented workers, USA Today, 2.26.18
- Alaska DACA fact sheet
- Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, Wikipedia
PARTICIPATE:
- Call 550-8433 (Anchorage) or 1-888-353-5752 (statewide) during the live broadcast (2:00 – 3:00pm)
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LIVE BROADCAST: Wednesday, April 4, 2018, 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. (Alaska time)
REPEAT BROADCAST: Wednesday, April 4, 2018, 8:00 – 9:00 p.m. (Alaska time)
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