Immigration Brief: How Many People With DACA Have Criminal Records?

By Jessica M. Vaughan and Bryan Griffith on June 20, 2019

In June, the House passed H.R. 6, the American Dream and Promise Act of 2019. This bill would grant amnesty to 3 to possibly as many as 6 million illegal aliens. 

Although there are many concerning aspects of the bill, a predominate one is created by the DACA program itself, which gave benefits to illegal aliens with criminal records. According to USCIS, of the current 700,000 DACA beneficiaries:

  • 54,000 already had criminal records before (or at the time of) DACA application but still were approved for DACA
  • 17,000 of them had multiple criminal arrests
  • 8,000 of them were arrested again after receiving DACA benefits