Remembering DACA 13 Years Later

For most, DACA began on June 15, 2012, but for Julie efforts to enact the policy were years in the making. The groundwork for DACA began with a group of policy makers and community leaders, working to build a strong legal argument that highlighted the lives of undocumented young people. 

When asked about those early organizing days for DACA, Julie reflected on a recent conversation she had with a fellow White House alum on their initial experiences mobilizing for DACA.

“Just two days ago, I was sitting down with a friend of mine, and we were reminded of the first time we met: it was in St. John's Church across the street from the White House, when people first began to organize for DACA. It was always a group on the policy side, like Cecilia Muñoz, and then folks that had a deep connection to the president and his positions, such as Valerie Jarrett. There were a number of dreamers, leaders, and folks who had done important legal analysis but also had really powerful lived experiences and stories to be able to share with us.” 

As planning continued, organizers like Julie kept working on mobilizing community members, remaining cautiously optimistic that the time would come when DACA was official. On June 14, Julie received the call: DACA was a go, and President Obama would announce it the next day. As soon as she discovered the announcement was being made, Julie sprang into action, working to ensure that the right people—those that had helped make DACA a reality—would be in the Rose Garden when the statement came through.

“The first call I got to make, when we were finally able to do notifications and let people know, was to a woman named Gaby Pacheco…She is a young dreamer who marched from Miami to Washington, D.C., to bring attention to the issue of young undocumented folks in the country and built a strong advocacy campaign. I called her first, and I'll never forget she said to me, ‘For the first time in my life, I feel whole.’”

Throughout the next 24 hours, members of the administration, including Julie, took painstaking efforts to ensure that the rollout of DACA was perfect. Starting at 6:30 AM, Julie worked with several administration leaders including Valerie Jarrett and Jon Carson to begin alerting the media, stakeholders, and activists of a celebration that was to take place in the Rose Garden.

In the thirteen years since the announcement of DACA, more than 800,000 Dreamers have had the opportunity to pursue livelihoods without the threat of deportation. 

“There's been a lot of really positive outcomes of DACA. A lot of recipients later qualified for other statuses more permanent than DACA, so that is hugely significant,” reflects Julie. “There's also a lot of documented folks who have gone into the healthcare industry, which was so critical as we think about the time that they were aging in, COVID hitting, and how stretched the industry had become. Seeing the opportunities that people had to live their lives, to become lawyers, to start small businesses; in my mind, that is what continued progress looks like.”