Thread: Ineligible Illegals File for DACA Hoping to Force Obama to Stop Deportations

Illegal immigrants file applications to force Obama’s hand on stopping deportations

By Stephen Dinan - The Washington Times - Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Nearly a dozen illegal immigrations announced a campaign Wednesday to force President Obama’s hand on halting deportations, saying they would file papers demanding to be let into the existing program granting so-called Dreamers legal status, even though none of them qualify.
Some of the immigrants came as children and would have qualified except they went home for college and then came back, while others are parents of Dreamers who have already gotten legal status under Mr. Obama’s 2012 program. And one is Jose Antonia Vargas, a former Washington Post reporter who was a few months too old to qualify for the Dreamer policy, and whose case has become a flashpoint in the immigration debate.
Mr. Vargas, who travels the country advocating for illegal immigrants, said they often hear complaints from Americans who tell them they should get in the back of the immigration line. But he said that’s impossible for most illegal immigrants, saying there is “no line” for them to get in that would earn them legal status from within the U.S.
“This morning, by submitting our applications, we created a line, a process. Now it’s up to the Obama administration. The ball is in your court, Mr. President,” Mr. Vargas said.

The move comes as Mr. Obama is pondering whether to expand his current non-deportation orders to include illegal immigrant parents of U.S. citizens and Dreamers, who have already gotten tentative legal status.
Mr. Obama’s legal ability to issue the original 2012 policy is already facing a court challenge, and his power to expand the policy is being heatedly debated within legal circles and on Capitol Hill.
The 11 illegal immigrants who filed applications Wednesday are seeking “deferred action,” which means an official grant of tentative legal status, a work permit to allow them to get jobs, and potentially a number of state benefits such as in-state tuition and driver’s licenses.
The existing policy for Dreamers, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, applies to those who came to the U.S. under age 16, were under 31 as of June 15, 2012, and had been in the country continuously for five years leading up to that date.


It’s not clear how many of the 11 would be deported even without getting status under an expanded deferred action policy. Mr. Obama has already said immigration agents should only be targeting recent border crossers and those with significant criminal records or those who have previously been deported but who snuck back into the U.S.
Activists, though, say it is unfair to target those who have been deported and snuck back in, saying that crimes stemming from illegal immigration shouldn’t be considered in deciding who gets deported.
They also said that freedom from deportation isn’t enough — they need the work permits that come with deferred action in order to support their families.
The 11 who filed applications on Wednesday said they are representative of the more than 11 million illegal immigrants estimated to be in the U.S. already.

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They want. They need. They demand. How about we help our own first? Pretty bold and arrogant to come here demanding anything.

They feel empowered because of the lax immigration enforcement of the Obama administration. We're probably the only country in the world where illegals 'demand' so much.