Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) and undocumented graduates continue to take on leading positions at some of America’s largest economic engines like Google and Microsoft, investing in their own families and communities, despite experiencing increasingly high levels of stress regarding their immigration. But with DACA applications closed, more undocumented students are struggling to obtain workforce authorization and careers.
Those are the findings from a new report and survey conducted by TheDream.US and Golden Door Scholars, two scholarship organizations helping undocumented students access, persist, and succeed in postsecondary education.
The survey connected with over 2,000 of the programs’ alumni to assess their post-graduation trajectories and found that, despite the majority earning more after graduation than their parents combined, 96% said they felt a level of anxiety regarding their immigration status. Of graduates with work authorization, 93% are working. Of those without work authorization, only 69% are working.
Dr. Hyein Lee, chief operating officer at TheDream.US.
“The data speak to how economic integration is relatively smooth for those able to take advantage of DACA,” said Dr. Hyein Lee, chief operating officer at TheDream.US. “Those who only have individual tax payer ID numbers have to be freelancers or contract workers.”
Lee said that postsecondary institutions have an important role to play in sharing the success stories of their undocumented students and alumni. The majority of the 100,000 undocumented high school graduates each year do not have DACA or Temporary Protected Status (TPS), and many are questioning why they should go to college.
“Right now, the narrative of dreamers has become muddled with what’s going on at the border, and it’s really important to keep talking about a population that’s grown up and spent their entire lives in this country,” said Lee. “They’re not looking for handouts, they’re looking for opportunity to give back and contribute.”
