Elgin could allow DACA recipients to be hired as firefighters and paramedics

The Elgin City Council gave unanimous preliminary approval Wednesday to allow people with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status to be hired as firefighters and paramedics.

The city already employs people with DACA status, including three police officers. Elgin does not have a requirement that any city employees be U.S. citizens, only that the person be legally authorized to work in the United States under federal law.

Illinois passed legislation in 2023 to allow DACA recipients to become police officers, but efforts to extend the policy to firefighters had stalled, said council member Anthony Ortiz, who brought the initiative forward with the help of fellow council member Dustin Good.

Good said it was important to close the gap in the city that existed only for potential fire department hires.

“It provides opportunities for people that could be life-changing,” he said.

The DACA program was introduced in 2012 by the Obama administration. The policy made it possible for an estimated 800,000 immigrant children, known as “Dreamers,” to live in the United States without fear of deportation.

Most police and fire departments around the country previously required U.S. citizenship as a prerequisite for hiring. Staffing challenges and diversity requirements prompted many departments to relax their citizenship requirements to allow DACA applicants to be hired.

Ortiz said he met with the president of the IAFF Local 439 firefighters union, who supported the initiative.

Fire Chief Robb Cagann said the department was “100% in support of all this.”

“The fact that we have three police officers that are successful employees of the city of Elgin is a testament to this program,” he said. “How the fire service got excluded in the first place is anybody’s guess.”

Cagann said there is a nationwide shortage of paramedics that is being particularly felt in northern Illinois.

“The more people that we can get — that larger pool of people that we can have — that also enhances the department’s diversity, enhances representation of the Elgin community on the Elgin Fire Department, is a benefit to everybody,” he said.

Cagann said it takes “a lot of heart and dedication and commitment” to be a firefighter.

“If we have people who have those traits and can meet our internal standards, we should give every one of those people a chance to be an Elgin firefighter,” he said.