DACA Changes Likely to Wreak Havoc for ‘Dreamers’ and Employers

Gaps in work authorization, longer wait times, and doubled costs are likely to come with recent Trump administration changes to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

The Department of Homeland Security released a memo Tuesday amending the program so that existing DACA recipients—young, undocumented individuals who came to the U.S. as children—will have to apply to renew for the program every year, instead of the current two years.

Though the change seems small, it could disrupt more than 600,000 DACA holders’ ability to continue to work in the U.S., over a third of whom are employed in essential jobs ...