ONLY a little more than one year into the Obama Administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program (DACA) more than 550,00 DACA requests accepted for processing, of which over 430,000 have been approved, and 7,450 requests denied, as of July 2013. In all, the program has been considered a success, creating a legal, albeit temporary, remedy for the hundreds of thousands of DREAMERS in the US.
DACA began on August 15, 2012, as an answer to Congressional lethargy on Immigration Reform and repeated failure to pass the DREAM ACT. The administrative policy reform came as a welcome surprise to those it will benefit, who had all but given up hope to attend college in the US, get a degree and fulfill their dreams in the US. USCIS estimated that there were approximately 1,000,000 people living in the US who could potentially qualify for DAS under DACA as of June 2012. Just over one year later, it looks as though only half of this population has taken advantage of the program.
USCIS ramped up hiring and deployed thousands of workers to adjudicate the DACA requests, who are paid based on the $465.00 filing fee each applicant must submit with his application. These USCIS employees are reviewing each application for deferred action status individuals who: (1) Came to the US under the age of 16; (2) have continuously resided in the US for at least 5 years preceding June 15, 2012 and remain present in the US; (3) are currently attending school, have already graduated high school or obtained a GED, or are honorably discharged veterans of the US armed forces or Coast Guard; (4) have not been convicted of a felony offense, a significant misdemeanor offense, multiple misdemeanor offenses or otherwise pose any threat to national security or public safety; and (5) are not yet aged 31.
Any application made for benefits under this program, which include DAS and work authorization, requires extensive, verifiable documentation that all criteria are met. DHS has stated that it cannot guarantee that all requests for DAS will be granted and has made clear that DAS is not an amnesty, legal status, or path to Citizenship and confers no other legal rights.
Completed DACA applications have been reaching adjudicating officers for over one year now. Individuals who believe they may qualify for DAS under this program are advised to gather any and all evidence tending to establish the 5 criteria outlined above and consult with competent counsel before submitting any application or documentation to DHS regarding their immigration status in the US.
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Daniel P. Hanlon is a California State Bar Certified Specialist in Immigration and Nationality Law and a principal of Hanlon Law Group, PC, located at 225 S. Lake Ave., 11th Floor in Pasadena, California; Tel. No. (626) 585-8005. Hanlon Law Group, PC is a “full-service Immigration Law firm.” E-mail: [email protected] and www.hanlonlawgroup.com.
