Abstract
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is a temporary immigration policy that was passed by President Obama in June 2012. This research focuses on the impact that DACA has had on the DACAmented and UnDACAmented recipients. This study will also analyze whether a temporary program like DACA could be used to benefit a larger part of the undocumented population. This research is crucial to assess how this policy benefits and changes lives of a vulnerable population. It will help inform and improve future policies directed to an undocumented immigrant population. In-depth interviews with open-ended questions were conducted with 10 individuals: 5 DACA and the 5 non-DACA recipients. I compared the two groups’ experiences and used intersectional and social capital theories to analyze the findings. Although not a generalizable sample, the study seeks an exploratory and qualitative understanding of the unique experiences among DACAmented and UnDACAmented population at time of extreme nativism in the country.