The second problem with DACA is that it harms working-class voters, the very people who put Trump over the top. The employment situation for those without a college education continues to look bleak. We can see this clearly if we ignore the official unemployment rate, which includes only people who report they have actively looked for a job in the prior four weeks. In the first quarter of this year, only 62 percent of young native-born Americans (18 to 29) without a college degree were working, which means that 38 percent were not employed. While these figures include those in school, this was also the case in 2000, when 70 percent of these young, less-skilled workers had a job. The bottom line is that the young and less educated work much less than they used to. These are the workers most likely to compete with DACA recipients armed with their newly issued work permits.

Among native-born black Americans with this level of education, only 58 percent are working. Rates of work are near historic lows for teenagers and for the less-educated generally. At the start of 2017, in total more than 33 million adult natives under age 65 without a college degree were not working. There is no shortage of less-educated workers in the United States.