Huffington Post
By Dayana Morales Gomez
July 9, 2015
Undocumented
young people called Dreamers have seen their average wages jump 45
percent since President Barack Obama granted them temporary
authorization to stay in the
U.S. and legally work here, according to a report released Thursday.
Dreamers,
brought to the U.S. as children by their parents, earn an average
hourly wage of $17.29 with work permits under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program
that Obama announced three years ago, up from an average of $11.92
before the program, according to the report.
The
report, by the Center for American Progress, National Immigration Law
Center, and Tom K. Wong of the University of California, San Diego,
surveyed Dreamers to gauge
economic and educational effects of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA. The program has allowed nearly 665,000 young
undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. before they turned 16 to
stay and work legally for two years, with the
opportunity to renew.
The
survey found that 76 percent of DACA recipients were employed, while 20
percent were in school and not working. Forty-five percent were working
and in school. Of those
who were working, 69 percent said they had better pay after gaining
coverage from the program and 54 percent said they had better working
conditions.
The higher wages mean more tax revenue and economic growth, suggesting that the program benefits the economy, the authors wrote.
Philip
Wolgin, associate director of immigration at the Center for American
Progress, said many of the survey's findings echo other studies, but the
significant jump in
wages was a surprise. Theoretical studies projected wages would rise an
average of about 8.5 percent for DACA recipients -- far less than the
45 percent jump shown in the survey.
One DACA recipient, Reyna Montoya, 24, told HuffPost that her education and
work opportunities widened after she received DACA. She graduated from
Arizona State University
in 2012, months before the announcement of DACA. She didn’t know what
she would do post-graduation.
“I
graduated with two bachelor's degrees and a minor,” Montoya said. “I
was that student taking 21 credits every semester and I was recognized
as the most outstanding
of the graduating students in 2012 at the Hispanic convocation and it
was kind of like a very bittersweet moment for me, because at that
moment I still didn't have a Social Security number.”
Now, she's teaching and working toward her master's degree.
“Last
year was the first year that I started teaching high school,” Montoya
said. “That was a big opportunity that I wouldn't have been able to do
it without DACA.”
The
report found that 89 percent of DACA recipients had received a driver’s
license, and 21 percent bought their first car. More than 90 percent of
those still in school
said they had “pursued educational opportunities [they] previously
could not.”
The
authors said their findings also may have implications for another of
Obama's deportation-relief policies, Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents, or DAPA, which has been blocked in court. That program would
grant similar benefits to DACA for undocumented immigrants who have
U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident children. The survey found that
40 percent of DACA recipients had parents eligible
for DAPA, because they had a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident
sibling.
An
expansion of DACA also is blocked in the courts, but the 2012 iteration
of the program is still operating. The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals will hear arguments
on Friday in a lawsuit against DAPA and the expanded DACA.
Wolgin
said the report may challenge state claims that they face financial
challenges due to the deferred action programs. He noted that officials
in Texas, which led
the lawsuit, argued in their lawsuit that it would cost the state to
issue driver's licenses to potential DAPA recipients, but they failed to
account for potential tax revenue from undocumented immigrants'
increased buying power.
“In
our study, one in three new DACA recipients in Texas bought a car,"
Wolgin said. "That means they're paying sales tax on that and all this
kind of adds up to say,
well, is it really harm? You know, we don't think so."
The
survey was conducted in June with 546 respondents. Researchers were
“confident” 467 of those are DACA recipients. Respondents live in 34
states the the District of
Columbia. The median age was 22. Of the respondents, 73 percent were
women and 26 percent were men.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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