By Recker McDowell
Arizona Technology Council President and CEO Steve Zylstra has penned a new column in the Business Journal on the issue of DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) and the estimated 661,000 Dreamers who grew up as Americans but were brought into the U.S. by their families when they were very young.
The fate of those Dreamers is sitting with the U.S. Supreme Court as it considers the DACA program started by former President Barack Obama and its potential end via President Donald Trump.
Zylstra points out that Dreamers are productive contributors to the economy and society.
“For example, nearly 30 percent of [the] roughly 30,000 DACA recipients in Arizona are working in the electronic component and product manufacturing sector,” Zylstra writes in his Business Journal column. 
Zylstra said Arizona’s tech community needs to support the DACA program and Dreamers not only because of their economic contributions but also because of what getting rid of DACA protections will do to families and communities.
That is the type of community minded and forward-thinking other business groups and major employers need to be doing on this issue.
Immigration has been divisive nationally and in Arizona. But the state and country have a chance to come together and find a solution on DACA and for Dreamers and for what it really means to be an American.
The Arizona Technology Council is showing common sense, courage and decency on the DACA issue. Let’s hope others follow that lead.