What are the positions on DACA and Dreamers?

Encyclopedia of Opinion

Question: What are the positions on DACA and Dreamers?
Position1 of 2›: DACA should remain and expand
Argument‹2 of 3›: DACA helps improve the US economy

Economic losses would follow the elimination of the DACA program including a decrease in tax revenues and loss of workforce and students enrolled in education programs.

The argument

Removing DACA will result in many financial losses to the United States. Before DACA, some immigrants were afraid to pay fees for various opportunities in front of them like education and work because they were afraid to give their identifying information to the government which may lead to their deportation. After the government implemented DACA to protect young immigrants from deportation, dreamers worked and studied more which led to more revenue through tuition costs and taxes. Dreamers paid $4 billion dollars in taxes to the government in 2017. Researchers predict that eliminating DACA would lead the US economic growth to shrink by $280 million. DACA recipients play an important role in the workforce. Dreamers contribute to employment significantly. At least 72% of the top 25 fortune companies like Walmart, Chase, Home Depot, and Wells Fargo employ DACA recipients. Not only do Dreamers contribute through working in others' businesses, some of them also have started their own businesses. In 2017, about 5% of DACA recipients have started their own businesses which contributes to the US economy by creating jobs. Finally, DACA recipients contribute largely to the US economy through consumer spending which is a major factor of the US economy functioning. DACA provides many benefits to the US economy and should not be eliminated.

Premises

[P1]DACA let young immigrants work and study without fear of deportation, generating more revenue through tuition and the $4 billion in taxes Dreamers paid in 2017. [P2] Dreamers are vital to the workforce, employed by 72% of the top Fortune companies and starting their own job-creating businesses. [P3] Researchers predict eliminating DACA would shrink US economic growth, on top of lost consumer spending. [C] Therefore, because eliminating DACA would damage the US economy, DACA should remain and expand.

Counter-arguments

DACA makes young illegal immigrants eligible to work in the United States. These immigrants are taking jobs away from other Americans= citizens. There are over 4 million Americans who are unemployed who could make use of these jobs. In addition to the decrease in job openings for Americans, salaries and job benefits decrease due to DACA. As the supply of workers increases, there is less demand for workers. Increased workers leads to more competition on jobs and makes businesses willing to decrease wages. DACA is worse for the economy when it comes to legal American citizens and therefore should be eliminated.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] Tax receipts measure what recipients contribute, not the net effect of the programme, since the argument sets no cost of any kind against them. [Rejecting P2] That large employers hire recipients shows they are in the workforce; it does not show they add output rather than displacing other workers, which is the counter-argument's objection and one the premise never engages. [Rejecting P3] The projections are cited without a source or a stated method, and the argument reports the lost growth in millions while reporting the tax contribution in billions — a mismatch it does not explain. In any case an economic case for a policy does not settle the legal and immigration questions on which the position actually turns.