In June 2012, President Obama issued an executive order to temporarily halt the deportation of eligible undocumented youth in America and to grant them the ability to legally live and work in the country. The process called deferred action was implemented in 2012 and around 365,237 young, undocumented youth have received this temporary legal status, so far. DREAMers who received this status, gathered on Saturday to celebrate the first year anniversary of this program that has changed the lives of many. This Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Program was created by President Obama, in order to permit some young innocent undocumented immigrants, to receive a temporary relief from deportation. If an undocumented immigrant receives deferred action status, he will be permitted to remain in America for a two year period and this person who receives deferred action status will also become eligible for an employment authorization document, a driver’s license and a social security card. When his status is set to expire, at the end of the two year period, he can file an application for renewal and continue to live in America.
This program was opposed by many, yet it survived and it is also helping several undocumented youth to study, work and live in the United States. Nevertheless, states like Arizona and Nebraska are against DACA and these states are not granting the DACA recipients living in their states, access to driver’s licenses and other benefits. Reports state that around 2 million people living in America are eligible for deferred action but statistics released by the USCIS, shows that only 500,000 people have so far applied for deferred action. Many believe that the information that they provide at the time of applying for deferred action will be used by the immigration officers to identify and deport them and their families. Some also believe that the application filing process is complicated. At the same time, some individuals do not have all the required supporting documents and these circumstances prevent many from applying for DACA.
The application filing process is not that difficult and the eligible undocumented youth can easily complete their applications online. They need to submit few supporting documents to establish that they are eligible for DACA and so they first need to collect the required supporting documents. The next step is completing and filing Form I-821D for deferred action along with Forms I-765 and I-765 WS for employment authorization documents. Followed by that, they need to mail the completed forms with the exact filing fee to the right USCIS Lockbox facility. If their petitions are approved, they will be required to submit biometrics information and the applicants must go to the right fingerprinting location and submit biometrics information. USCIS does not adjudicate all the applications in the same manner and it considers applications on a case by case basis. So far, 365,237 deferred action applications have been approved by the USCIS.
Know More About Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
Deferred Action
DREAM Act and Deferred Action