On June 15, 2012, President Barack Obama's administration established Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), a policy that allowed certain undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children to apply for deferred action and work authorization. DACA was a response to the failure of Congress to pass the DREAM Act, and it provided protection for nearly 800,000 'Dreamers,' offering them a temporary reprieve from deportation. The policy has been subject to legal challenges and political debate, symbolizing the ongoing conflict over immigration reform in the United States.

DACA is a powerful subject in contemporary American poetry, giving voice to the 'Dreamer' generation. Poets like José Olivarez and Javier Zamora have explored the precarity, hope, and identity of young undocumented immigrants in their work. DACA has inspired a wave of poetry and prose that challenges narratives of illegality and highlights the human cost of immigration policy, becoming a defining theme in 21st-century American literature.