Students aim to track economic benefits of immigration reform

Francisco López-Flores was talking to numerous investors in May to pitch a project to track the economic benefits of immigration reform. However, one potential investor told López-Flores not to waste his time with mere hobbies.

But for many undocumented students like López-Flores, who have had family members deported, the project was personal.

López-Flores, who graduated in fall 2014, was pitching DACAMENT ME, a project which aims to survey about 100,000 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients to prove that immigration reform is beneficial for the United States economy.

This summer, the group is creating a computer program that would analyze the findings of the surveys, said López-Flores, one of the founders of the group.

In 2012, the Obama administration implemented DACA to defer the deportations of undocumented individuals brought to the United States as children. The executive order allows individuals to acquire the documentation necessary to obtain jobs, bank accounts and drivers’ licenses in certain states, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

In November, President Barack Obama also announced Deferred Action for Parents of American and Lawful Permanent Residents, or DAPA, and expanded DACA, which defers the deportations of undocumented individuals who are parents of legal residents. However, the program is currently blocked due to a February federal court order.

López-Flores said he came up with the idea to survey DACA recipients after noticing his own wages increased after he received DACA.

“After I received DACA, I didn’t have to be paid under the table anymore,” he said. “I could now get real wages and apply for better paying jobs.”

In December, a group of students traveled to the White House as part of a Chicana/o studies class to present an analysis of DACA’s economic impacts to policymakers.

They shared that survey with more than 200 DACA recipients nationwide, said Stephanie Ramírez, a fourth-year Chicana/o studies and political science student, and the results of the surveys they conducted showed that recipients’ wages increased on average by nearly 100 percent after receiving DACA.

Their research also showed that this trend could contribute nearly $1.7 trillion to the U.S. economy, said Rudy Morales, who graduated from UCLA in the spring.

Morales, Ramírez and López-Flores teamed up after the Washington, D.C. trip to form DACAMENT ME and have since expanded it to include three more students.

“UCLA was a great place to learn and start the project, but this is a national issue and we need to make this more than just a research project,” López-Flores said.

Morales said their idea for the computer program, which they are currently working on this summer, won first place at the Latin@ Coder Summit at Stanford University in May.

López-Flores said winning the competition gave the group access to mentors and investors who could help fund and expand the project. They also received $1,000, which will be spent on tools to create their computer program, he added.

López-Flores said he hopes the sponsors and mentors will help make DACAMENT ME an official program at UCLA, like a class or student organization, through which future students can contribute.

“Once people start seeing the effects of (the research), I don’t see why we wouldn’t be able to get more funding,” he said.

Kayleen Ports, a fourth-year biochemistry student and a new recruit to the DACAMENT ME team, said she joined the project in order to learn more about immigration reform. She said she thinks getting concrete data will get the ball moving on a political solution for this issue.

“I think that while we’ve tried presenting the emotional side of (immigration reform), that hasn’t worked,” she said. “Now we have to get data and use it to show that reform is good for the country as a whole.”

López-Flores said they expect to release a completed version of the survey in the fall and hope to raise $1 million for the program by reaching out to investors over the next year.

Published by Rupan Bharanidaran

Bharanidaran is the News editor. He was previously a news reporter for the campus politics beat, covering student government and the UCLA administration.

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17 Comments

  1. NOTE & WARNING: The links provided below contain direct quotes from Obama and his officials.

    http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jun/16/obama-amnesty-extends-businesses-hire-illegals/
    Obama gives free pass to businesses that hire illegals
    Audits, fines drop for employers

    “President Obama took office vowing to go after unscrupulous employers who hire illegal immigrants, but worksite audits have plunged over the last year and a half, according to a report released Tuesday by the Center for Immigration Studies, tumbling along with the rest of immigration enforcement.”

    The Left-Leaning LA Times posted an article that shows that the Obama administration, the Illegal Alien lobby, and the major media outlets have been in collusion to depict the “high” deportation numbers. The exact opposite is true since the beginning of the current President’s policy. Interior deportation has and will be lower than 1973 rates. This is leading towards more people overstaying their visas and currently, more Illegal Alien minors crossing the border. Obama has just recently instructed border patrol to not turn back those Illegal Aliens on record as having entered illegally as priors, but to let them pass IF they don’t have a major criminal record. After the first Illegal Entry, it is a felony each time thereafter.

    Even Obama in 2011, called the deportation numbers deceptive when talking to Hispanic voters. President Obama said statistics that show his administration is on track to deport more illegal immigrants than the Bush administration are misleading.

    “The statistics are a little deceptive,” he said Wednesday in an online discussion aimed at Hispanic voters.”

    “If you are a run-of-the-mill immigrant here illegally, your odds of getting deported are close to zero — it’s just highly unlikely to happen,” John Sandweg, until recently the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement

    http://thehill.com/policy/technology/184393-obama-calls-for-pathway-to-citizenship-in-online-talk

    http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-obama-deportations-20140402,0,545192,full.story#axzz2xkzioeHR

    http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/mar/12/deportations-come-mostly-from-border-dhs-chief-say/?page=1

    http://www.nationalreview.com/article/346043/cooking-boo

  2. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/18/us/by-using-executive-order-on-immigration-obama-would-reverse-long-held-stance.html?_r=0
    For Obama, Executive Order on Immigration Would Be a Turnabout
    “President Obama is poised to ignore stark warnings that executive action on immigration would amount to “violating our laws” and would be “very difficult to defend legally.”

    Those warnings came not from Republican lawmakers but from Mr. Obama himself.”

    http://www.factcheck.org/2014/11/obamas-immigration-amnesia/
    Obama’s Immigration Amnesia

    “…, Obama said he lacked the legal authority to suspend deportation of family members. Now, he says he has just such legal authority.”

    1. Here’s where Obama and his administration has already defied the injunction by giving previous DACA recipients benefits under his EO (Memo):

      http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-12/u-s-will-ask-appeals-court-to-lift-texas-immigration-order?cmpid=yhoo

      http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/did-the-administration-lie-about-obamas-immigration-action/article/2561037/comments

      http://www.fairus.org/legislative-updates/legislative-update-3-10-2015#1

      Here’s where the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed another “Advisory” with U.S.
      District Judge Andrew Hanen, confessing that the Department of Homeland
      Security (DHS) had given three year DACA permits to 2,000 applicants
      even after Judge Hanen issued an injunction on February 16 blocking all such approvals.
      http://www.scribd.com/doc/264593994/Texas-v-United-States-Advisory-May8

  3. An Atlantic Monthly article that shows that most economists’ thinking that an increased influx of immigrants provides more jobs for Americans is FALSE and does harm jobs for US workers and the economy:

    http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/01/does-immigration-harm-working-americans/384060/

    Also, it is patently untrue that “immigrants” are the solution to low rate of start-ups:

    http://smallbiztrends.com/2015/01/immigration-reform-declining-start-rate.html

  4. The Liberals’ Case AGAINST Illegal Immigration:

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/11/25/the-liberal-case-against-illegal-immigration.html

    This is the Progressive Case AGAINST Illegal Immigration:

    http://www.salon.com/2015/03/01/the_1_percents_immigration_con_how_big_business_adds_to_income_inequality_pits_workers_against_each_other/

    http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/immigrants-different-audacity-hope/2014/11/17/id/607937/
    Report: Obama’s Book Says Illegals Can Hurt Americans

    http://beforeitsnews.com/opinion-conservative/2014/11/didnt-anyone-in-the-hispanic-media-read-obamas-book-2936030.html
    Didn’t anyone in the Hispanic media read Obama’s book? Or listen to when he speaks?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idvRtDDPl_4
    Barack Obama in his own words from “The Audacity of Hope”
    – Illegal Immigration hurts Black Americans and Blue Collared Workers

    1. Latinos only listen to what they want to hear. If they are losing, their leaders must insist they are winning because their people will turn on them or otherwise become violent because they cannot stand to lose.
      Their leadership are cults of personality and their people are basically animals. That is a big reason their nations are places to run away from.

  5. They won’t ever publish the results of this study if it is done honestly. What they will find is that DACA beneficiaries are mostly a ‘less-than-sterling’ group who went on breaking laws but this time with protected status. They know the real truth will hurt their cause.
    As long as we let even a few illegal aliens stay many more will come. Latin culture dictates that what one receives all must be given. They come expecting to stay no matter what they do. Laws don’t matter in their nations so they believe the same is true here.
    Our citizens are punished for breaking laws. We are foolish to give foreigners a pass. Look at what happened in San Francisco.

    1. http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2015/07/03/breaking-pier-14-murder-suspect-had-been-deported-5-times-with-7-felonies/
      BREAKING: Pier 14 Murder Suspect Had Been Deported 5 Times with 7 Felonies

      “Five-time deportee and seven-time convicted felon Francisco Sanchez has been jailed on suspicion of shooting and killing 31-year-old Kathryn Steinle Wednesday evening while taking photos with her father at Pier 14 in San Francisco, California. Sanchez was freed after the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department refused to honor a request by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain him, following a policy adopted in 2014. He was arrested soon after the shooting.”

      http://www.kcra.com/news/local-news/news-sacramento/sacramento-sheriff-criticizes-obama-on-immigration/29851418
      Sacramento sheriff criticizes Obama on immigration

      “Jones vowed to crusade against illegal immigration after the shooting rampage last month by a Mexican man with a long criminal history who was in the country illegally.”

      http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2015/03/20/by-the-way-ice-just-released-thousands-more-violent-criminal-illegal-aliens-onto-american-streets-n1973552?utm_source=TopBreakingNewsCarousel&utm_medium=story&utm_campaign=BreakingNewsCarousel
      By The Way, Ice Just Release 30,558 More Violent Criminal Illegal Aliens Onto American Streets

      http://cis.org/ICE-Document-Details-36000-Criminal-Aliens-Release-in-2013
      ICE Document Details 36,000 Criminal Alien Releases in 2013

      http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/10/22/immigration-detainees-released-criminal-records/17714925/
      U.S. misinformed Congress, public on immigrant release

      http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/202142-dhs-document-68000-illegal-immigrants-with-criminal-convictions-released-in
      DHS document: 68,000 illegal immigrants with criminal convictions released in 2013

      http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/10/17/thousands-of-illegal-immigrants-released-including-3000-with-felony-charges-or-convictions/
      Thousands of Illegal Immigrants Released — Including 3,000 With Felony Charges or Convictions

          1. Feel free to find and friend me on Facebook! We are of like mind and we are not alone in our opinions. I will borrow some of your links. Thanks!
            Thank Heaven for Trump. He finally said what the advocates have tried to avoid for years.

  6. Define “beneficial for the United States economy” and explain how that relates to quality of life for the working American.

  7. “The three decades . . . from the mid forties to the mid seventies, were the golden age of manual labor.” * * * Why were times so good for blue collar workers? To some extent they were helped by the state of the world economy. * * * They were also helped by a scarcity of labor created by the severe immigration restrictions imposed by the Immigration Act of 1924.”
    Paul Krugman, Conscience of a Liberal, Chapter 3 (pages 48-49)
    *

    “Bliss it was in that dawn to be alive, but to be young was very heaven! And so it was for the young adults of the fifties, those fortunate ones born in the low birth rate era of the 1930s.” Wordsworth, the Prelude; Richard Easterlin, Birth and Fortune, Chapter 2

    “A small generation, presumably, would do well if it arrived on the labor market when demand was high. The catch here is unrestricted immigration.
    * * *
    . . . the bright prospects of a small cohort were swamped by competitors from abroad.” Richard Easterlin, Birth and Fortune, Chapter 2, page 33

  8. ” the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country, it measures everything in short, except that which makes life worthwhile. And it can tell us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans.” Robert Kennedy at University of Kansas, March 18, 1968

  9. Texas Comptroller Carol Keeton Strayhorn did a study in 2006 that showed that undocumented immigrants produced $1.58 billion in state revenues, cost $1.16 billion in state services they received, and cost local governments $1.44 billion in uncompensated health care costs and local law enforcement costs not paid for by the state.” A net loss of a little over one billion dollars. For Texas. That was for 2006, in boom times, in one state. (Special Reports, Carole Keeton Strayhorn, Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts)

  10. “Now we have to get data and use it to show that reform is good for the country as a whole”

    “good for the country as a whole” means different things to different people.

    To business, it means more cheap labor. To Democrats, it means more votes for them, and more people dependent on government. To the military, it means more cannon fodder. To the churches, it means more unquestioning believers. To congress, it means more taxpayers.

    To the working man? It would mean more jobs than candidates, lower prices for homes (not 600 square foot condos), low tuition at universities (UC Berkeley had nearly zero tuition for 100 years), low living costs while attending university (up until the late 1960s, a student could work his way through Berkeley – no loans), much less congestion (Yosemite used to be enjoyably quiet years ago), . . . .

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