'Dreamers' income more than doubled under DACA program: survey

A new survey of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients is highlighting the policy's significant positive economic impact on its beneficiaries.

The survey was released by the U.S. Immigration Policy Center at the University of California, San Diego; United We Dream; the National Immigration Law Center; and the Center for American Progress (CAP). It found that DACA status led beneficiaries to markedly higher economic participation and increased earnings.

According to the survey, which was conducted last year, 89.5 percent of respondents reported being employed or in school.

“This year, new data in this survey illustrates that DACA recipients persevere, building full lives in the United States despite fear for their livelihood and stability in the face of relentless attacks against their status as Americans,” said Tom K. Wong, associate professor of political science and founding director of the U.S. Immigration Policy Center at the University of California, San Diego, and a senior fellow at CAP.

DACA beneficiaries reported average hourly earnings of $28.27 and average yearly earnings of $68,000, compared to average hourly earnings of $11.22 and average yearly earnings of $24,131 before receiving DACA status.

More than 40 percent of respondents said DACA led them to get their first job, switch to a job they were better suited for, increase their work earnings or get better benefits at work.

And more than 65 percent of respondents reported that their DACA status helped them earn more money, allowing them financial independence.

Respondents overwhelmingly said DACA status played a part in their use of formal banking — 58.9 percent said they'd gotten their first credit card as a result of DACA, 47.2 percent said they opened a bank account, and 34.3 percent said they started a retirement account.

More than half of respondents said their status had also helped them buy their first car, though only 17.7 percent said they had bought a first home as a result of DACA.

All respondents in the survey had a GED or higher educational attainment, with 69 percent reporting at least a bachelor's degree.

But the survey also found that DACA recipients largely fear losing their status, with the program hanging by a thread amid court action against it.

“For more than 10 years, DACA has had a transformative impact on my life, allowing me to go to school, work, and build a life with my family and loved ones in the U.S.,” said Diana Pliego, policy associate at the National Immigration Law Center. “And for more than 10 years, DACA’s impermanence has kept me and hundreds of thousands of other immigrant youth like me on edge that the homes we’ve created here could be upended because of a politicized court ruling or politicians playing a game with our futures."

Recipients cited a range of fears connected to potentially losing their status — 76.7 percent said they feared for the physical safety of their families if they were deported to their home countries.

To be eligible for DACA, recipients must have arrived in the United States as minors.

The average age for the survey's respondents was 29, and their average age of arrival to the United States was 5.

Survey respondents largely said they would pull back from civic life if they lost their DACA status.

For instance, 75.4 percent said they would currently report a crime they witnessed to the police, but only 37.9 percent said they would do so if they lost their status.

And 92.9 percent said they would currently provide their personal information for business purposes, including securing loans or opening bank accounts, but only 38.2 percent would do so without DACA.

The survey was conducted among 817 DACA recipients out of the program's approximately 580,000 beneficiaries.

According to the survey's authors, respondents were screened with multiple questions on their immigration status to ensure they were DACA recipients, and measures were taken to avoid a single respondent filling out the survey multiple times.

However, the authors did not construct a margin of error for the survey, given the opt-in nature of the online questionnaire.