Portsmouth, NH -
Well, it's been just over a year since President Obama, on the heels of the DREAM Act's failure to make its way through a Congress mired in partisan bickering, announced the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
I. What is DACA?
DACA is also not a law per se, it is an Executive Order. Unlike the proposed DREAM Act, DACA cannot provide permanent residency, a path to citizenship or any other immigration status -- DACA is, in effect, an order by the President, as Commander in Chief, to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) - the federally established and controlled immigration Police force - and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) - the administrative/bureaucratic body that oversees US Immigration - to actively exercise the "judicial discretion" the department has always had not to deport certain non-high-risk individuals. DACA provides a framework - a checklist if you will - of what sort of persons ICE and USCIS are ordered to grant this "deferred action" to.
DACA also differs substantively from the DREAM Act proposal in that it includes a larger group if individuals than the failed Act would have.
II. What does "Deferred Action" mean?
The term "deferred action", which ICE and USCIS have the been able to grant to certain low-risk individuals, simply means that ICE and USCIS will not detain, remove or deport someone who has been granted "deferred action" at the present time or for a period of time. These individuals could be detained or removed in the future but, for the time being, they are not deemed a priority. In the meantime USCIS permits individuals who have been granted Deferred Action to apply for work authorization, obtain Social Security Numbers, Drover's licenses, etc. so they can support themselves and their families. Deferred Action is useful for focusing limited ICE and USCIS resources to apprehending, prosecuting, and removing dangerous and criminally-minded individuals who are also here illegally rather than wasting those resources on individuals who are trying to be contributing members of their communities and who have simply fallen through the sizable gaps in the United States' immigration system.
DACA is a very specific application of Deferred Action which provides a clear framework for USCIS and ICE in determining who should be granted Deferred Action.
III. What comes next?
DACA is a temporary program, the status is for only two years and, while many posit that renewal - perhaps indefinitely - upon expiry will be possible it remains technically possible for DACA to be repealed by another less immigrant-friendly President. The hope for DACA is for it to operate as a stop-gap until real and meaningful immigration reform makes its ways through the increasingly divided and ideologically inflexible congress. The Senate's passage of one version of such an act earlier this year was a priding move forward but, with a House of Representatives that has, to this point, proven - if not outrightly hostile to immigrants - inept at doing the People's business and all too quick to get stuck in fringe ideologies and refusing to meaningfully work towards compromise with those who view the world differently.
Until this situation changes -- or enough pressure from the reasonable majority of the American published in support if immigration reform is levied against their Representatives who have, thus far, been catering to a vocal minority of fringe voters -- DACA may be the only, albeit imperfect, option for at least a small segment of America's significant comity of undocumented residents.
IV. One-Year Later.
Several authoritative reports have come out revealing the significant progress made by DACA recipients since the program's introduction. While a lingering fear of authority figures remains strong in immigrant communities - particularly in those states who have adopted strong anti-immigrant rhetoric and laws - for the most part DACA recipients have been able to come out of the shadows attending institutions of higher education, working, paying taxes and providing already open and clear indication of the contribution these young people make in their communities.
There is still a great deal to be done and the Mesinschi Law Offices is focused on helping as many young persons who qualify for DACA come out of the shadows and start building their lives alongside their US-born and documented peers.
To celebrate the one-year anniversary of DACA, the Mesinschi Law Offices is slashing its legal fees by a whopping 30% for eligible applicants from now until August 30!
To find out of you qualify under DACA, complete our DACA Evaluation.
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