Educational Resource
MRS Backgrounder on Dreamers and Temporary Protective Status (2019)
MRS Backgrounder on Dreamers and Temporary Protective Status, February 2019
In 2012, the Department of Homeland Security initiated the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program for certain undocumented individuals who came to the United States as children and met several guidelines. DACA was patterned after the DREAM Act, bipartisan legislation that was initiated more than a decade ago but has not become law. The purpose of DACA was to utilize prosecutorial discretion to provide undocumented persons who were brought to the United States when they were children with temporary relief from deportation (deferred action) and work authorization. The status expires after two years, subject to renewal.
Dreamers are young people who include DACA recipients, as well as other undocumented individuals of a similar age group who were brought to the United States by their parents as children. They are contributors to our economy, veterans of our military, academic standouts in our universities, and leaders in our parishes. Dreamers are woven into the fabric of our country and of our Church, and are, by every social and human measure, American youth.
Temporary Protective Status (TPS) was established by Congress through the Immigration Act of 1990. TPS is intended to protect foreign nationals in the United States from being returned to their home countries if the home country became unsafe to return to during the time in which the individuals were in the U.S.