Annual Social Policy Forum: Young Lives at the Brink: How Social Work Can Address the Human Rights Issue of Our Time

On September 5, 2017, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the termination of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, an administrative effort providing protection from deportation and work authorization to close to 800,000 immigrant youth and young adults. The decision to end a program that has provided opportunities for social mobility, increased mental health, and a sense of belonging—a model of immigrant integration—may be viewed as part of a troubling trend towards anti-immigrant hostility as policy. What’s more, enforcement activity in communities across the country has seen an uptick during this administration. What awaits these young people and their families? And how can social workers respond? While much of the public debate takes place at the 30,000 foot level, undocumented young people and children of mixed-status families have real needs that require immediate and local solutions. But immigrant youth and young adults are not without agency. Over the last decade, their social movement has garnered them significant political power and has captured the attention of the American public. This forum highlights the untenable circumstances of immigrant youth at the margins and, in doing so, reflects on the complex and nuanced ways in which they have responded – and directions for social workers to respond through policy research, advocacy, and other action.