Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is in theory a limited amnesty for illegal aliens who entered the United States as minors. DACA authorizations granted protection against deportation and work permits for two years beginning in September 2012. Now, DHS has just announced the launch of a process to begin extending that limited amnesty for an additional two years.
There is little difference between a limited amnesty that is indefinitely renewed and a full scale amnesty other that the latter opens a route to U.S. citizenship – which the Obama administration has been urging on Congress since the President’s election.
The renewal of DACA status coincides with a crisis in coping with a surge in unaccompanied minors entering the country. The apprehension of an estimated 60,000 minor illegal entrants is likely this year – an about ten-fold increase over a year ago. And there is no end in sight to this flood. Can anyone believe that this surge is unrelated to the adoption of DACA?
DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson, in launching the DACA renewal process, made a statement that is the equivalent to a new “Y’all come” invitation. “…[A]lmost all of us agree that a child who crossed our border illegally with a parent, or in search of a parent or a better life, was not making an adult choice to break our laws, and should be treated differently than adult law-breakers.” He didn’t say that the illegal alien newcomers would automatically be allowed to stay, but that is the way the statement is likely to be understood outside our borders.