Campaign Overview
The #DED4DACA Campaign advocates for the President’s use of deferred enforced departure (DED) to protect the DACA-eligible population from an adverse judicial decision. Withdrawing DACA-protections from current recipients and foreclosing potentially eligible individuals from receiving them implicates and would have adverse consequences for U.S. foreign policy interests. The President’s independent foreign relations authority allows him to grant DED to this population, ensuring that they continue to receive employment authorization and protection against removal. DED is not a permanent solution, but it should be considered either on its own or as part of a larger patchwork of executive actions.
The #DED4DACA Campaign’s recently released report, Protecting United States Foreign Policy Interests Through Deferred Enforced Departure for DACA-Eligible Individuals, explores the history of the President’s DED authority and recommends its potential use to protect DACA-eligible individuals. The report provides a comprehensive look at grants of DED used by all presidents since President George H.W. Bush first employed it in its current form in 1990. Further, the report examines the foreign policy interests that withdrawing DACA protections would implicate in the Western Hemisphere and globally—and why the use of DED is appropriate to protect them.