HR Policy and several Association members and business groups cited the U.S. economy's increased need for qualified workers in joint comments supporting a proposed regulation by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to formally establish the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA).
The regulation will address the procedural aspects of a federal court’s recent decision to vacate DACA, as the ultimate fate of the program rests on whether a higher court takes a different view of the substantive issues.
Our comments note the positive impact of Dreamers on the U.S. economy:
- American businesses in every part of the economy depend on DACA beneficiaries as valued employees, and many work directly in the very sectors of the economy that are most desperately in need of qualified workers.
- DACA has also enabled Dreamers to become business owners and job creators, who employ tens of thousands of workers and generate hundreds of millions of dollars in total revenue. In this way, Dreamers expand job opportunities for everyone.
- The United States could stand to lose as much as $460 billion in national GDP if DACA protections were eliminated.
“More than 75% of the top 25 Fortune 500 companies employ Dreamers—including Walmart, Apple, Microsoft, IBM, Amazon, and JPMorgan Chase, among others… CEOs of nearly 100 of America’s leading companies have attested to the importance of DACA beneficiaries in their companies.” HR Policy and several other business groups also signed the letter sent this July.
Looking ahead: As previously noted, the DACA program hangs by a thread, with the Biden administration attempting to address in the Fifth Circuit a lower federal court ruling that the program itself substantively violates U.S. law. HR Policy continues to contend that legislation remains the only surefire way to protect Dreamers, who represent a valuable portion of the U.S. workforce.