E.g., 04/24/2024
E.g., 04/24/2024
DREAM Act/Deferred Action

DREAM Act/Deferred Action

ImmigrantMarchSign SpiritOfAmerica Shutterstock

Conferring legal status on young unauthorized immigrants brought to the U.S. as children—a group referred to as DREAMers—has been the subject of legislation in Congress since 2001. In 2012, the Obama administration launched the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative to provide a temporary reprieve from deportation to qualified unauthorized immigrants who came to the U.S. as children. In 2017, the Trump administration announced the program's termination. The research here offers a demographic portrait of the DACA and broader DREAMer populations. Check out our DACA data tools, with state-level and national-origin data, here.

Recent Activity

Multimedia
October 29, 2015
12th Annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference
Multimedia
October 8, 2015
Variations in In-State Tuition, Financial Aid, and Scholarship Policies for Unauthorized Youth
Commentaries
October 2015
Mapping the Patchwork of State ‘DREAM Acts’ and Postsecondary Education Policies for Unauthorized Immigrant Youth
By  Margie McHugh
Multimedia
September 21, 2015
Left Behind: How the Well-Being of Children Is Affected by Parental Deportation
Reports
September 2015
Implications of Immigration Enforcement Activities for the Well-Being of Children in Immigrant Families: A Review of the Literature
By  Randy Capps, Heather Koball, Andrea Campetella, Krista Perreira, Sarah Hooker and Juan Manuel Pedroza
Reports
September 2015
Health and Social Service Needs of U.S.-Citizen Children with Detained or Deported Immigrant Parents
By  Heather Koball, Randy Capps, Sarah Hooker, Krista Perreira, Andrea Campetella, Juan Manuel Pedroza, William Monson and Sandra Huerta
Multimedia
August 19, 2015
The Unauthorized Population in the United States: New Data Trends
coverthumb Unauth COB
Reports
August 2015
An Analysis of Unauthorized Immigrants in the United States by Country and Region of Birth
By  Marc R. Rosenblum and Ariel G. Ruiz Soto

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Recent Activity

Video, Audio
October 29, 2015

12th Annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference

This annual discussion offered political and policy analysis on key immigration topics, including family detention, unaccompanied child migrants, executive action, and the presidential campaigns, along with featured keynotes by Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres.  

Video, Audio, Webinars
October 8, 2015

Variations in In-State Tuition, Financial Aid, and Scholarship Policies for Unauthorized Youth

This webinar discusses the different policies that states have on unauthorized immigrants and in-state tuition, financial aid and other benefits, and the implications for unauthorized immigrant youth seeking two- and four-year college degrees.

Commentaries
October 2015

Mapping the Patchwork of State ‘DREAM Acts’ and Postsecondary Education Policies for Unauthorized Immigrant Youth

Since 2001, 17 states have enacted measures to allow qualified unauthorized immigrant youth to pay resident tuition rates at their postsecondary institutions. Other states, meanwhile, have moved in the opposite direction. This commentary explores the different state approaches and requirements that have resulted in an unsettling policy patchwork.

Video, Audio
September 21, 2015

Left Behind: How the Well-Being of Children Is Affected by Parental Deportation

A report release where authors discuss the effects of parental deportation on the children of immigrants, the related needs for health and social services, and U.S. policy responses to protect these children.

Reports
September 2015

Implications of Immigration Enforcement Activities for the Well-Being of Children in Immigrant Families: A Review of the Literature

Rising immigration enforcement in the U.S. interior over the past decade increased the chances that the estimated 5.3 million children living with unauthorized immigrant parents, the vast majority of them born in the United States, could experience the deportation of a parent. This report reviews the evidence on the impacts on children, finding significant and long-lasting harm can occur at emotional, economic, developmental, and academic levels.

Reports
September 2015

Health and Social Service Needs of U.S.-Citizen Children with Detained or Deported Immigrant Parents

This Urban Institute-MPI report offers findings from fieldwork in study sites in California, Florida, Illinois, South Carolina, and Texas, examining the involvement of families with a deported parent with health and social service systems, and barriers to access. The report finds that economic hardship is highly prevalent following detention and deportation of a parent, while child welfare system involvement is rarer.

Video, Audio, Webinars
August 19, 2015

The Unauthorized Population in the United States: New Data Trends

This webinar examines recent trends regarding the countries and regions of origin for the unauthorized immigrant population in the United States at national, state, and county levels.

Reports
August 2015

An Analysis of Unauthorized Immigrants in the United States by Country and Region of Birth

This report profiles the approximately 11 million unauthorized immigrants living in the United States, examining population growth trends over time by country or region of origin as well as geographic distribution by state and top county destinations. (See related interactive map here.) The report also assesses eligibility and application rates for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, analyzing differences in application rates by national origin.

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