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Guidance Reminder: About DACA And 'Dreamers'

When reporting about the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy, it's important to be careful when citing some figures and terms. Here's a reminder:

  • There are currently about 700,000 DACA recipients. That's the number to focus on when talking about how many people would be affected. The program peaked around 800,000.
  • There are an estimated 3 to 4 million people who came to the country as children and are here illegally (the "Dreamers").
  • Politicians and advocates often refer to DACA recipients simply as Dreamers. As you see, DACA recipients are actually a subset of those known as Dreamers. We can, though, say that DACA recipients are "commonly known as" or "commonly referred to as" or "often called" Dreamers.
  • Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

    Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.