Topic and argumentation

The status of illegal immigrants

The text “ ‘Dreamers’ Put Their Trust in DACA. What Now?” by Jose Antonio Vargas explores the topic of immigration. More specifically, the article focuses on the status of children of illegal immigrants in the US, children also known as ‘Dreamers’.

To introduce the topic, Vargas relates a story from when the DACA processing system opened, when he overheard two women talking: “…wondering whether they should have showed up and gotten in the line, to apply for a new program that would let some undocumented people who had come to this country as children get a work permit.” (ll. 2-4).

DACA is an abbreviation for “the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals” (l. 21), a program introduced in 2012 protecting children of illegal immigrants from deportation and allowing them to work in the US for a two-years period and reapply afterwords to the program.

Part of the article explores the challenges and hardships the Dreamer generation faced before DACA. Using rhetorical question, Vargas conveys the limitations and frustrations of these children:

Can you tell your classmates that you can’t join th…