FACT CHECK #YJCJ4-RG

WHAT WE FOUND

While President Barack Obama used executive authority to grant temporary legal status to certain undocumented immigrants, he did not and could not implement the DREAM Act, which is a piece of legislation that only Congress has the power to pass 258. The DREAM Act was repeatedly introduced but blocked in Congress, leading Obama to use executive power to address the issue through other means 4512. In 2012, his administration initiated the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which provided a two-year deferment from deportation and work eligibility 5. This was a temporary policy change, whereas the DREAM Act would have provided a permanent legislative path to citizenship 45. High-credibility sources emphasize that conflating DACA with the DREAM Act is factually incorrect, even though both target the same population 28. Nonetheless, the creation of DACA was widely characterized by critics and some legal scholars as a unilateral bypass of congressional authority 7910. In 2021, a federal judge ruled that DACA was illegally implemented because the administration lacked the authority to bypass the legislature in this manner 7.

SOURCES

1. 1 · factcheck.orgFACT-CHECKER
   Did Obama 'Enact' DREAM Act? - FactCheck.org

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2. 2 · jacksonville.comFACT-CHECKER
   Fact Check: Executive order by Obama on illegals? Just a DREAM

   TIER A

3. 3 · politifact.comFACT-CHECKER
   PolitiFact | Did Obama say he didn't have the right to issue DACA?

   TIER A

4. 4 · legaljournal.princeton.eduACADEMIC
   DACA and Presidential Authority: Navigating the Constitutional Limit of Executive Power - Princeton Legal Journal

   TIER A

5. 5 · library.law.howard.eduACADEMIC
   DACA and the DREAM Act - A Brief History of Civil Rights in the United States - HUSL Library at Howard University School of Law

   TIER A

6. 6 · npr.orgNEWS
   With DREAM Order, Obama Did What Presidents Do: Act Without Congress : It's All Politics : NPR

   TIER A

7. 7 · en.wikipedia.orgWEB
   Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals - Wikipedia

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8. 8 · mediamatters.orgWEB
   Fox News Attacks Obama For DREAM Act He Didn't Enact | Media Matters for America

   TIER B

9. 9 · heritage.orgWEB
   President Barack Obama's Unilateral, and Unconstitutional, Move | The Heritage Foundation

   TIER B

10. 10 · columbiatribune.comWEB
    Obama is giving us a bad DREAM

    TIER B

11. 11 · texaslawreview.orgWEB
    Dream On: The Obama Administration's Nonenforcement ...

    TIER B

12. 12 · rollcall.comWEB
    Barack Obama Takes Executive Action on DREAM Act - Roll Call

    TIER B