An upcoming deadline for Congress to address a key immigration reform issue has had a chilling effect on Greater Des Moines’ estimated 2,500 young “Dreamers” — and the business community stands to lose a vital segment of students and workers if Congress fails to act, according to a panel discussion this morning hosted by the Greater Des Moines Partnership. 

Three months ago, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that began winding down the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that had been enacted under the Obama administration, and gave Congress six months to pass legislation to solve what the Trump administration said has been a wave of illegal immigration encouraged by DACA.

The panel, moderated by Joe Murphy, the Partnership’s senior vice president of government relations and public policy, included Tom Ahart, superintendent of Des Moines Public Schools; Polk County Commissioner Bob Brownell; Lori Chesser, an immigration attorney with Davis Brown Law Firm; Marti Doyle, professor of social sciences at Mercy College of Health Sciences; and Bob Riley, chairman of Feed Energy Co.

Nearly 790,000 young unauthorized immigrants have received work permits and deportation relief through the program since it began in August 2012, according to the Pew Research Center. Under DACA, unauthorized immigrants who came to the U.S. before age 16 — a group sometimes called “Dreamers” — are given a chance to stay in the U.S. to study or work, provided they meet certain conditions such as being enrolled in high school or having a high school degree or GED equivalent, and not having a serious criminal conviction.

Brownell, who gave his best estimate of the potential number of Dreamers in Greater Des Moines at approximately 2,500, said not continuing the program could stall the positive economic momentum the region has enjoyed. “We’ve got a wide variety of immigrants here,” he said. “They’re integral to our economy moving forward.”

Notably, all five of the panelists were overwhelmingly in favor of preserving the program.

From an educational perspective, the suspension of DACA has had “a tremendous chilling effect,” said Ahart. He said affected students and their families are in “crisis mode.” Ahart provided an example of one teen DACA recipient who is nearing completion of the homebuilding program at Central Academy but now could face deportation.

“He’s ready to fill a real workforce need,” the Des Moines school superintendent said. “So it just feels really counterintuitive to be taking this kind of action.”

Mercy College’s Doyle said that DACA has allowed a number of the college’s immigrant students to “come out of the shadows.” Now, however, they’re worried, she said.

“They’ve put considerable time and money into their education, and now they’re wondering, is it worth continuing? As a health care college and a Catholic college, this is an issue that’s near and dear to our heart.”

Employers who have DACA workers are feeling the strain along with those employees, who say the uncertainty is making it difficult for businesses to plan for those positions past the March 5 deadline, Chesser said. “If you’re an employer and if that person is doing a good job and their work permit is expiring, how do you plan for that?” she said.

Chesser said that more awareness of the issue is needed, and she encouraged people to talk to their neighbors. “You don’t necessarily know who they are,” she said. “It may be your kid’s best friend.”

Brownell observed that employers essentially have their hands tied regarding DACA, other than contacting their Congress representatives. “It’s a bad idea for employers to think about looking the other way,” he said. “The fines are fairly significant.”

“The bigger system issue is that we know what needs to be done, yet we have this demonization of people in our society who don’t look like us,” said Feed Energy’s Riley. He brought with him a copy of a 1995 task force report on the state’s workforce that had similarly cited the need to address immigration. “I want to finish that work,” he said.

Riley said that CEOs and businesspeople statewide need to take the responsibility to ask each other: What are you going to do about this? “Some of these people may be working for you,” he said. “What are you going to do when they’re gone?”

The event coincided with a national day of action called iMarch led by the New American Economy, an advocacy group made up of more than 500 mayors and business leaders. “Whether you come at it from an economic standpoint or a humanitarian standpoint, we encourage you to get involved,” said John Stineman, a principal with Strategic Elements in West Des Moines who represents New American Economy.