Guidance Reminder: About DACA And 'Dreamers'

By Mark Memmott

Published November 12, 2019 at 3:50 PM EST

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.

Mark Memmott

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.

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