The consequences of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program—and its uncertain future—is the subject of the next Social Sciences Today Forum at the University of Colorado Boulder.

The event—titled “Brain Drain Through Deportation? The Consequences of DACA”—features three experts and is scheduled for Wednesday, March 7, at noon in Old Main Chapel on the CU Boulder campus. Each faculty member will speak for about 15 minutes and then answer questions. The event is free and open to the public. The panelists are:

• Francisca Antman, associate professor of economics
• Violeta Chapin, clinical professor of law
• Enrique Sepúlveda, assistant professor of ethnic studies

Antman will summarize results from her research on the impacts of DACA on the schooling and labor-market outcomes of likely beneficiaries. The DACA program covers undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children; these immigrants are sometimes called “dreamers.”

Chapin will discuss undocumented/DACA students in American colleges today, how DACA helped raise those numbers, and some of the history of state bills to allow undocumented students to get in-state tuition.

Sepúlveda will speak about “how DACA is part of a larger set of issues impacting Latinx students/youth, immigrant or not, and what this means for my work as an educational anthropologist and ethnic studies professor.”

The event is sponsored by the Center to Advance Research and Teaching in the Social Sciences (CARTSS) and the College of Arts and Sciences. 

The Social Sciences Today Forum, a series during the school year, is designed to help the public gain broader perspectives and deeper understanding of human society and how individuals relate to the community and one another. This forum brings the knowledge and expertise of social-sciences faculty to the greater community and allows the community to ask questions of leading scholars.