Did DACA keep jobs from thousands of Americans?
THE MEDIA: Announcement rescinding DACA on Sept. 5. WHO SAID IT: Jeff Sessions. TITLE: U.S. Attorney General. PARTY: Republican. THE COMMENT: “(DACA) also denied jobs to hundreds of thousands of Americans by allowing those same jobs to go to illegal aliens.”
WHAT WE’RE LOOKING AT: Whether or not Americans were denied jobs because of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients.
ANALYSIS: As he announced on Tuesday that the federal government would phase out the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Americans have been denied jobs because of qualified DACA recipients.
The Obama-era program offers temporary deportation protection and work permits to immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children. The program applied to those who entered the U.S. before turning 16, were under the age of 31 as of June 15, 2012, and have lived in the U.S. since June 15, 2007.
Further, applicants must be enrolled in school or have a high school diploma or equivalency and no felony convictions or no significant misdemeanors to qualify.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders clarified Sessions’ statement at a press briefing later that day, saying “it’s a known fact that there are over 4 million unemployed Americans in the same age group as those that are DACA recipients.”
Sanders’ unemployment figures add up, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Current Population Survey.
Though Sanders didn’t specify the age range in the briefing, bureau data released Sept. 1 showed there are 3,725,000 unemployed youth from ages 16-34. And there are nearly 700,000 DACA recipients who are employed, according to research by the Center for American Progress.
But the question is, are those DACA recipients taking jobs away from citizens? Research offers contradictory answers. A Department of Justice official referred to an Aug. 3 National Review article arguing DACA’s negative impact on nativeborn youth unemployment.
“But giving work permits to illegal immigrants makes it possible for them to seek employment in almost any job,” the article states. “So the competition with less-educated natives will hit occupations that until now were mostly unaffected.”
The article also cites research by the Center for Immigration Studies, which compares immigrant employment rates to native-born employment rates and shows an increase in immigrant employment rates since DACA’s implementation.
Steven Camarota, the director of research for the Center for Immigration Studies, said that while the research shows an increase in immigrant employment rates, “it’s hard to know” whether immigrants are taking opportunities away from nativeborn workers.
“There is certainly evidence to that effect,” Camarota said about Sessions’ statement. “But it’s still being debated.”
Other reports reveal how DACA is beneficial to overall employment.
Recently released CAP research showed that DACA recipients’ legal employment status has a positive economic impact that creates jobs for others.
Tom Wong, an associate political-science professor at the University of California-San Diego who worked on the research, said DACA recipients “are not in the traditionally skilled industries,” meaning blue-collar jobs, because they must have a high-school diploma to qualify and many are pursuing college and graduate degrees.
“We’re talking about a lot of folks who are aspiring doctors, engineers, and scientists,” Wong said. “So when we think about DACA recipients in the workforce, then we’re talking about white-collar workers.”
Additional research by the Migration Policy Institute compares the number of DACA recipients in the same industries as native-born workers.
MPI’s research shows that the DACA program allowed for greater job distribution in the economy because education became more accessible for recipients. The research found “sizable numbers” of recipients in white-collar or higher skilled jobs that would have been unattainable without the program.
Wong argues that Sessions’ statement is incorrect because DACA recipients are moving into industries where there’s already a shortage of qualified workers.
“In those white-collar types of fields, labor shortages abound,” Wong said. “So the argument that these folks are taking jobs away from Americans doesn’t really jibe when some of these industries, in particular health, are plagued by laborer shortages, not surpluses.”
BOTTOM LINE: Sessions’ claim that the DACA program has denied jobs to hundreds of thousands of Americans doesn’t have definitive support, nor is there definitive data proving otherwise. Due to the conflicting evidence, this statement is rated inconclusive. THE FINDING: No stars: Inconclusive. SOURCES: United States Citizenship and Immigration Services data, https:// www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/US CIS/Resources/Reports%20and%20 Studies/Immigration%20Forms%20 Data/All%20Form%20Types/DACA/da ca_performancedata_fy2017_qtr2.pdf; Bureau of Labor Statistics data, https:// www.bls.gov/web/empsit/cpseea13.pdf; research by the Migration Policy Institute, http://www.migrationpolicy.org/re search/education-and-work-profilesdaca-population; “Time to End DACA,” National Review, http://www.national review.com/article/450080/obamas-ille gal-amnesty-trump-should-end-daca; Data from the Center for Immigration Studies; interview with researcher and UCSD associate professor Tom Wong; correspondence with the Department of Justice.