Campaign Action
It’s not just Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients who are living in limbo as the Trump administration is hellbent on challenging the recent court decisions that have partially resurrected the program. DACA recipients are also valued employees and business owners, which means that scores of people who depend on them for their livelihoods are also living in uncertainty. Mostafa Ghonim, a DACA recipient and Queens business owner has over 20 employees, but if he were to lose his work permit, he would no longer be able to run his catering business:
“I explained to them what the situation was, and to my surprise, a lot of them kind of walked away with a shock in their spirit because they were thinking that ‘Wow, I had no idea because I see you as one of us [an American],’” he said. “If the program doesn't affect you or anyone in your family, you're not exactly concerned what this is about. But once you see that it's someone close to you, you're looking at it in a completely different light.”
For Ghonim—who came to the U.S. from Egypt when he was just seven—there’s nothing he can do to ease the chaos for himself and his employees. United States Immigration and Citizenship Services (USCIS) recommends DACA recipients apply to renew their DACA status 120 days before the expiration date. But Ghonim’s doesn’t expire until next year, meaning all he can do is continue waiting to see if the Republican Congress does something to pass permanent protections. So far, congressional Republicans refuse to.
This wait-and-see stalemate makes running a business and planning ahead “very difficult,” Ghonim said. Having grown up as an undocumented immigrant of Muslim descent, he is used to living in fear. Fear of possible deportation if and when DACA is revoked affects his everyday decisions.
"It even comes down to the point where I'm considering how much money I leave in the bank, because at any moment you can get a notice or something happens to your family,” he said. “You are concerned that literally everything that you've ever built can be taken away.”
It’s been said once, it’s been said a million times: passing permanent protections isn’t just the moral thing to do, it’s the business smart thing to do. Last year, the Center for American Progress found that “passing the Dream Act, and placing all of the potentially immediately eligible workers on a path to legal status, would add a total of $22.7 billion annually to the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP). Because the gains from legalization grow each year, the cumulative increase in GDP over 10 years would be $281 billion.” And just as importantly, young Americans-in-waiting like Ghonim deserve to keep thriving here where they belong.