A new report from Silva Mathena at the Center for American Progress highlights the devastating impact the termination of DACA would have not just on Dreamers, but on all Americans.
The human costs are immeasurable. If Donald Trump ends DACA after taking the oath of office next Friday, the more than 750,000 young people who have enrolled in the program will be at immediate risk of deportation from the only country they’ve ever known as home.
But, as CAP shows, folks who think that only DACA recipients and their families will be affected by termination of DACA are terribly mistaken.
Without DACA or any sort of permanent, legislative relief that would allow Dreamers to stay in the United States and continue contributing to their communities, states all across the nation would stand to lose billions of dollars in economic growth.
From the Center for American Progress:
If DACA workers were to lose their work permits and jobs, the Center for American Progress recently estimated that the cumulative U.S. gross domestic product, or GDP, would be reduced by $433.4 billion over the following 10 years. Each state’s economy would also be negatively affected by the loss of workers, as DACA recipients are spread out across the country.
For example, in California, if all 1,723,000 unauthorized workers were removed, there would be an annual GDP loss of $103.3 billion. As of September 2016, California had 216,060 DACA recipients. Assuming that 87 percent of them are currently working, California has 187,972 DACA workers—87 percent of its recipients. Therefore, losing its DACA workers would mean an annual GDP loss of $11.3 billion, found by dividing $103.3 billion by 1,723,000 and then multiplying by 187,972.
Likewise, Texas would lose $6.1 billion annually, and North Carolina would lose $1.9 billion annually.
Simply put, continuing the DACA program benefits all of us. It’s why even in the face of uncertainty, Dreamers are continuing to bravely put themselves on the line and tell their truly American stories, through channels like the #SaveDACA campaign and the NYT’s “American Dreamers” feature.
As Lynn Tramonte, Deputy Director of America’s Voice, said yesterday: Dreamers “remind us what it means to be American. This is their home and they are here to stay.”
