Dr. Michael A. Olivas Presents: "Colleges, Immigration, and DACA"
Dr. Michael A. Olives is the William B. Bates Distinguished Chair of Law Director, Institute of Higher Education Law & Governance, University of Houston
In 2012, President Obama extended Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) to many undocumented students, providing opportunities for work authorization, Social Security Numbers, and lawful presence, which in turn has led to an extension of important status and benefits to these recipients, who total over 2/3 of a million, and counting. This has substantially improved the lives of the students, but has also tested the willingness of states to follow the law, throwing the matter into courts.
It has also shown how the uneven nature of state college policy dissemination and implementation has been able to absorb these policy initiatives and raised important questions about the interaction of state and federal immigration governance. This presentation will focus upon higher education initiatives that have been affected by DACA, will reveal the positives and negatives of this interaction, and will engage the audience on the unresolved issues that will require institutional cooperation.
