DACA opened doors to education for some
Incoming MSU Denver student Flor Camarena isn't sure her DACA application will ever be processed
When Flor Camarena was getting ready to graduate from her Denver high school, there was a moment she wasn’t sure she’d be able to go to college.
But her counselors, to whom she had confided her lack of legal status, helped her find schools that were supportive and programs that gave her hope for financial assistance.
This fall, she’s entering Metropolitan State University of Denver. Because she’s already earned some credits, she’ll be starting as a sophomore. But not having legal status in this country, where she’s lived since she was a baby, is impacting her educational choices and prospects.
Camarena has applied for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA program that would protect her from deportation and give her permission to work and apply for financial aid, but she doesn’t know if her application will ever be processed.
Instead of studying criminal justice to become a detective as she had wanted, Camarena instead will major in business management.
“I started thinking about how DACA might be removed and I just thought about the outcome,” she said. “Once I study, yes I’ll get my diploma and certification but then getting into working for the law — I wouldn’t get a good job because of my legal status. Even if I do get DACA, that’s still not a very lawful status to have to work with the law. I just didn’t see it happening.” But she’s making the most of it. She hopes that with a degree in business, she’ll be able to help her parents grow their restaurant business.
“I was initially very disappointed,” Camarena said. “I just started thinking about if I had a different legal status here I could be somebody much more important — maybe have a better career.”
Her mom was sad. Her dad was proud that she thought of the family business and was thinking practically.
The political immigrant advocacy group FWD.US estimates there are 600,000 students like Camarena without legal status in U.S. K-12 schools, including about 8,000 in Colorado.
This June, advocates celebrated the 10-year anniversary of the creation of DACA, and the impacts it’s had for many. DACA is a program that offers work authorizations and temporary relief from deportation for people who were brought into the country illegally as children.
Before the creation of DACA, young people without legal status described hitting demoralizing barriers in high school. Students lost their motivation as they realized college was out of reach without typical access to financial aid or instate tuition. Other opportunities including internships and trades that require professional certifications were also off limits.
When legislative efforts to help these students stalled, President Barack Obama created DACA through an executive order.
Some recipients are now parents themselves. The impact of status reaches beyond the recipients. In Colorado, it’s estimated that 20,000 U.S. citizens live with DACA recipients.
Educators and advocates have anecdotal stories showing that the creation of DACA helped motivate some young people to have hope for the future and to pursue education.
One of the requirements to apply is to either be in school or have a high school diploma or GED.
Researchers published a study in 2019 based on findings from the National Undacamented Research Project at Harvard University that tracked the impact of DACA across many years in hundreds of recipients. The study found that among students who had dropped out of high school, earning DACA status motivated them to reengage in their education. Many others went on to complete college degrees and started careers.
Marissa Molina, the Colorado
state director for FWD. us, herself was once a DACA recipient. She was in college, with her parents paying her out-of-state tuition, just before DACA was introduced.
“Because I had this huge tuition burden, I was going to drop out,” Molina said. “I didn’t see a point of continuing because I had no prospects to ever be able to use what I was learning. For me, DACA was truly transformational.”
Unlike most, Molina has since found an unrelated path to adjust her legal status.
DACA itself gives recipients temporary status, two years at a time, but doesn’t provide a way to earn permanent residency or citizenship.
Since former President Donald Trump first tried to end DACA in 2017, the government has only been allowed to process new applications for limited windows of time. Camarena applied during one of those windows last year, but her application hasn’t been processed.