DACA (Deferred Action For Childhood Arrivals)

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is a program that originated in June 2012 with an executive order by then-President Barack Obama. It applies to people who entered the country unlawfully as children. DACA stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, and it offers deferred action for young people who arrived unlawfully into the United States. While not giving them legal status, this program also allows these young adults to apply to work lawfully in the United States, among other benefits. Deferred Action simply means a "discretionary determination to defer a deportation of an individual as an act of prosecutorial discretion."

Reason for Creating DACA

DACA was launched in order to stop the deportation of undocumented individuals who entered the United States illegally through no fault of their own as young children but have been raised in the United States essentially as Americans.