Story highlights Raul Reyes: Despite Trump administration allowing DREAMers to remain in the US, immigrants continue to live in fear

DACA only protects about 740,000 young people; virtually all of the other 11 million undocumented people remain at risk for deportation, he writes

Raul A. Reyes is an attorney and member of the USA Today board of contributors. Follow him on Twitter @RaulAReyes. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

(CNN) Score a partial victory for immigration activists. Donald Trump's administration has announced that the so-called DREAMers -- young people who were brought to this country illegally as children -- will be allowed to stay and work here legally after all. These young people were beneficiaries of President Barack Obama's 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which celebrated its fifth anniversary this week.

Now the Department of Homeland Security has issued guidance suggesting that the DACA program will continue, and that the department will not be taking removal actions against DACA grantees.

This is welcome news for the young people directly affected by DACA. It is a tribute to their activism and advocacy that this sensible plan will continue. But Trump's decision must be seen in the context of his overall immigration enforcement strategies -- because despite this development, immigrants continue to live in fear across the country.

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The DACA program provides temporary deportation relief and work permits for those who were brought to the US as children, have a clean record and undergo a background check. It does not grant anyone citizenship, legal status or even a green card.

It is easy to see a cynical calculation by the White House at play here. Trump has been mired in scandal, with his domestic agenda at a near standstill. He desperately needs something -- anything -- positive on the homefront. With his approval rating at historic lows, perhaps he saw extending DACA as a way of generating some much-needed, positive news coverage