Published: Oct. 8, 2012 Updated: 2:56 p.m.

Immigration requests flood O.C. schools

Thousands pour in, causing huge backlogs at local campuses and districts.

By FERMIN LEAL / THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

An avalanche of transcript requests from students hoping to qualify for the federal Deferred Action program has overwhelmed Orange County's schools, leaving many paying overtime and reassigning staff to deal with huge backlogs.

Some school districts are reporting they've had 10 to 20 times more transcript requests in just the first two months of this school year compared to all of last year.

Kedyn Macedonio, 21, left, of Santa Ana, holds up a poster fashioned after a traffic sign in this photo from an rally in August. Macedonio came to the U.S. as a child and is currently a college student.
ANA VENEGAS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER


Requirements for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
Have come to the U.S. before turning age 16
Have continuously resided in the U.S. since June 15, 2007
Continuously in school, or graduated from U.S. high school
Be younger than 31 as of June 15, 2012

Examples of spikes in transcript requests
(Since August)
La Habra City School District: More than 450 transcript requests; just 40 all last year
Anaheim Union High School District: More than 2,520 requests; about 750 in all last year
Garden Grove Unified: More than 1,200 requests; up to 10 times more than previous school years
Westminster School District: About 400 requests; up to 10 times more than previous school years
Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified: More than 2,000 requests; up from 200 in all last year

Under the program announced by President Barack Obama in June, youths who came to the United States as children and stayed illegally can apply for work permits and two years' protection from deportation. The youth must provide proof they have lived continuously in the country since 2007, with transcripts and diplomas serving as proof of residency.

A report by the Migration Policy Institute estimated that California has about 460,000 of the 1.76 million undocumented youths nationwide. It's unclear how many of those are in Orange County, because schools are prohibited form asking for students' immigration status. Most districts also don't ask why parents are requesting transcripts, which could be for a variety of reasons.

Officials in Santa Ana Unified, the county's largest district with 54,000 students, do ask why transcripts are wanted. They estimate the district has received 6,100 transcript requests in the last two months just for the deferred action program.

The 20,000-student Anaheim City School District does not track what the requests are for, but schools have been receiving as many as 100 requests daily, up from just three to five requests a week received last year, district spokesperson Tim McGillivray said. The district was paying one clerk overtime and brought in a temporary worker.

Some school districts have reported it's taking up to 30 days to process requests, compared to a process time of less than one week before.

Orange Unified School District, with 30,300 students, has received thousands of requests, with long lines of families on some days waiting at district offices.

"At times, we are struggling to keep up with the increase," said Mike Pollok, Orange's director of student and community services. "The burden on school districts to provide former and current students with acceptable documentation of residency was probably not foreseen by the federal government."

Sergio Martinez, 20, a student at Santa Ana College and graduate of El Modena High, was one of the former students requesting a transcript in Orange Unified in September.

"I thought I could just walk in and out with my transcripts. But the first time I went, there were so many other people there, I decided to leave and come back another day," he said.

Martinez received his transcripts in the mail about two weeks later after he filed his request. "It was a little frustrating, but it's well worth it in the end."

Contact the writer: 714-704-3773 or fleal@ocregister.com

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