Given all of the things I have seen and heard about DACA in the past few days, I thought it might be helpful to lay out a few facts in the midst of so much misinformation. We are entitled to our own opinions, but not our own facts.

For the record … DACA recipients are ineligible for

• Medicaid.
• Food stamps.
• SSI.
• Welfare.
• Section 8.
• ACA.
• Federal student aid of any type.

The most serious crimes any have been convicted of are minor misdemeanors like traffic violations. If they are convicted of a felony, a significant misdemeanor (e.g a DUI, a drug dealing or sexual or domestic violence) or three minor misdemeanors, they lose eligibility.

Ninety-five percent are in school or working. Many are in the military. They are not draining the economy. They are contributing to it.

Unemployment is at an all-time low. They aren’t “taking your job.”

They arrived as children. To be eligible, they entered the country under the age of 16. For most, this is the only country they’ve known.

Many did not know they were undocumented until they wanted to get a driver’s license or apply for college. They often entered with their parents on a legal visa, and when that visa status changed, their parents stayed and the children were not aware of what happened.

They all speak English and often it is their only language.

Jesus fled to Egypt as an infant. Had he fled to the U.S., he would have been eligible. Except he was convicted of a crime.

If you are in favor of a path for these innocent victims to remain in the only country they have called home, call your legislators and urge them to act. They need a pathway forward if we are to be a compassionate nation.

Most of the arguments that oppose them remaining and not providing a path for them are rooted in racism and not in the facts.