Among the multiple executive actions the White House announced on June 18, 2024, was one stating it was taking steps to facilitate the process for certain Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients to obtain work visas/status. DACA was created in 2012 by President Barack Obama as a means for immigrant youth who met certain eligibility requirements to qualify for work authorizations and obtain “deferred action.”
While DACA protection has enabled hundreds of thousands of individuals to legally work and live in the U.S., the program has faced considerable uncertainty since 2017, when the Trump administration initially sought to terminate the program, but was prevented from doing so in the federal courts.
The program continues to face legal challenges, and additional litigation before the U.S. Supreme Court is likely. Fundamentally, DACA is not a legal status – the reliance on “deferred action” simply reflects the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) decision not to bring immigration removal proceedings against a specific individual. While many DACA recipients and their employers have since sought to transition to a work visa or other legal status that Congress specifically established in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), the process for doing so is uncertain, expensive and cumbersome.
Since DACA recipients either entered without authorization or were out of status when they received DACA protection, they are typically ineligible for a...
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