By Rev. Deacon Kathey Crowe

Areli S., San Jose State University (SJSU) Student and DACA Recipient Speaking at the Poor Peoples Gathering (Areli was invited to speak by the Rev. Mary Blessing and the Rev. Kathleen Crowe, Deacon and SJSU Chaplain)

Under sixteen and crossing the desert between Mexico and Arizona, two SJSU students, Areli S. and Juana L., know what it is like to flee for their lives with a parent or family member. 

“Dreamers” like Areli and Juana, who number about 600,000 young people, received Deferred Action against Childhood Arrivals or DACA status, a program approved by the Obama Administration in June of 2012. It allows people who came to the United States as children to have their deportation status deferred for two years, which may be renewed. They are eligible to request work authorization but do not have rights of residency.

Regardless of one’s views on the legality of the DACA program, here are some facts you might like to consider:

• DACA recipients are required to renew their status every two years.  At $605 for each renewal, the Federal Government earns a revenue increase of $63,000,000.
• Cancellation of the DACA program would results in a decrease in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of approximately $433B over ten years.
• DACA recipients must have a high school education or equivalency to qualify.  73% work toward a Bachelor’s Degree.
• 300,000 children have at least one parent who is a DACA recipient.  Consider the devastation of having that parent deported.
• DACA recipients pay $6.2B in Federal Taxes and $3.3B in local and state taxes.
• 68,000 DACA recipients are homeowners paying approximately $760M in mortgages
• It is estimated that DACA recipients contribute at least $25.3B in after tax spending power.

Every year, some DACA students who are supported by SJSU Cares[1] are referred to Episcopal Campus Ministry for housing, food, or money to pay for DACA renewal.  Using donations provided by churches and supporters, on Monday November 18 the Episcopal Chaplain, the Rev. Kathleen Crowe, Deacon, provided the money necessary to assist one of these students in paying for her renewal now, in order to offset concerns that the next administration may once again create legislation to abolish the program.

This concern is personal for those of us involved in the Canterbury Bridge ministry at SJSU.  We know and journey with some of these young people who have worked so hard to get their degrees. Given the facts, they pay their way!

 Areli S. is now working for a non-profit that helps to house the unhoused and Juana L. is in her senior year.  Daniel and Melvin, students in our host family program, are Hispanic and US citizens.  Both Daniel and Melvin volunteer to assist other young DACA recipients in understanding the renewal process.  Each one of these students is a light bearer.  We are privileged to journey with them and do what we can do. 

Please pray for them and for all DACA immigrants who are seeking freedom from returning to a country they do not know or where they will have no family support.  “What you do for the least of these my little ones, you do for me.” Matthew 25

[1] SJSU Cares partners with students on overcoming barriers to their basic needs and well-being by offering holistic and personalized support, resources, and referrals.

Photo credit: Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons