Immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally as children with their parents — and grew up as Americans without the benefits of citizenship — can find a temporary reprieve from deportation under a recent law, but the requirements to stay in the country are stringent.
That was the assessment at a recent workshop on taking advantage of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, launched in 2012.
About 30 people attended the workshop sponsored by the Hawaii Coalition for Immigration Reform at the Filipino Community Center in Waipahu.
Three more workshops will be held Aug. 22 and 23 on Maui, with locations and times to be announced. (Email hcirinfo@gmail.com.)
Those accepted under the deferred-action program receive a two-year grace period but need to keep renewing their application.
The first expiration date is in September, said workshop organizer Gabriela Andrade, an undocumented immigrant herself.
Andrade, who moved from Brazil to Texas as a teenager and then to Hawaii three years ago, applied successfully for deferred action when it was first issued as an executive order by President Barack Obama.
"Now, two years later, my life has improved dramatically," she said. "I am now able to drive, attend college."
She also was recently hired by the nonprofit Faith Action for Community Equity, or FACE, part of the Hawaii Coalition for Immigration Reform, to organize more of the workshops from which she benefited.
But there are still significant hurdles associated with the deferred-action program, she said.
» The $465 cost of submitting an application is prohibitive to most people, especially if a family has more than one applicant. About 520,000 have been enrolled in the program nationally since its inception.
» Gathering documentation that shows an immigrant’s eligibility for the program can be difficult. Specifically, applicants must prove they were in the U.S. and under age 31 as of June 15, 2012, when the program was initiated, and that they have been in the country continuously since June 15, 2007.
"Generally, people who are undocumented do not leave much of a paper trail, considering many don’t have the proper documentation to open a bank account, rent an apartment in their name, etc.," Andrade said. "There are creative ways to show presence, though, and that is one of the things we teach at the workshop."
John R. Egan, one of several immigration attorneys available for consultation at the workshop, suggested using school transcripts, medical or dental records, certificates marking a first communion or baptism, or, if the applicant is old enough, utility bills.
"Once a young person is granted DACA, they receive an employment authorization document, or EAD, which most people know as a ‘work permit,’ and with this card they can obtain a Social Security number," Egan said. "These basic documents are the critical start to resolving the problem of being undocumented. And they can begin to have a normal life, get a job, go to school, travel by air."
He added, "The schooling issue is major across the country. Also employment, because generally they don’t have a Social Security number." That often forces them to find menial jobs and get paid under the table.
Andrade warned that acceptance in the program does not provide a "pathway to citizenship." It just defers deportation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
"The president intended this program as a temporary relief until a permanent solution could be found, but since Congress could not reach an agreement on that, we are stuck in limbo," Andrade said. "Technically, we can renew DACA indefinitely."
She also expressed fear that a new president could end the program and ICE "could potentially use our personal information to bring us to the top of the deportation list."
But Egan disagreed that the election of a new president would pose such a clear-cut threat.
"There are over a half-million people in DACA across the country," he said. "Any president who decided to deport those kids who are productive and doing well is going to have a serious backlash. I doubt personally that a president would be rash enough to risk that. ICE has been good to its word and not singled out DACA applicants for special attention."
ON THE NET:
» U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services: www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/consideration-deferred-action-childhood-arrivals-daca
