In a new series scheduled to run through inauguration day in January, the News-Gazette will feature various campus experts and their opinions on what will be different in the Biden administration. The topic this past week was the future of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy, featuring Immigration Law Clinic director and professor Lauren Aronson. An excerpt from the conversation follows:

Why should this be high-priority for the Biden team?

"This should and will be a priority of Biden’s administration because it is low-hanging fruit — i.e. it’s relatively easy to accomplish and does not require congressional approval or really anyone else’s approval — and it is a move that an overwhelming majority of the American people support.

"In fact, over 70 percent of Americans believe that those individuals eligible for DACA should be given much more than the temporary “protection” DACA bestows on them. Most people believe these young people should be given a pathway to citizenship; however, that would require congressional approval and would therefore be something that could only happen much farther in the future and with a lot of negotiation and trade-offs with Republican legislators."

Read the full interview at news-gazette.com.