Ten years ago, then-Vice President Joe Biden helped create the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, also known as DACA. This week, President Joe Biden’s administration rolled out a new regulation to codify DACA.
DACA was designed to protect children who entered the United States illegally. It does not grant them legal status or a pathway to citizenship, but DACA does let recipients apply for driver’s licenses, social security numbers and work permits.
There were more than 600,000 immigrants enrolled in DACA at the end of March. The program closed to new enrollees last year after a Texas district judge ruled it illegal. The judge in the case based his decision largely on the fact DACA was created by a memo.
The new regulation from the Department of Homeland Security replaces the decade-old memo and had to go through a public comment period.
The Biden Administration hopes the process of creating the rule will stand up to legal scrutiny, since its implementation depends on the outcome of current, and certainly future, lawsuits.
As it’s drafted now, the new rule protecting DACA recipients, known as Dreamers, will go into effect on October 31.
DACA can also accept new enrollees when and if the rule is put into action.
