Many Dreamers aren't signing up for Obama's deportation relief
Aug 6, 2014, 2:32pm EDT
Many Dreamers aren't signing up for Obama's deportation relief
Kent Hoover Washington Bureau Chief
Only 55 percent of the 1.2 million immigrants who were eligible for relief from deportation when President Barack Obama launched the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in 2012 have applied for this protection.
That’s according to a new Migration Policy Institute report.
Under DACA, unauthorized immigrants who entered the U.S. before the age of 16 and were under the age of 31 in 2012 can win the right to work in the U.S. if these so-called Dreamers meet certain residency and education requirements.
DACA is in the news again for two reasons:
• First, there’s a lot of speculation that President Barack Obama will expand the program to additional classes of undocumented immigrants because of Congress’ failure to act on comprehensive immigration reform.
- Second, the House last week passed legislation that would bar Obama from continuing the DACA program. Republicans contended the president lacked the authority to change immigration laws in this way, and argued DACA provided an incentive for young immigrants to cross into the U.S. illegally.
So it’s interesting to find out the program isn’t being used by many undocumented immigrants who are eligible for it.
“On the one hand, the sheer volume of applicants is impressive,” said Michael Fix, president of the Migration Policy Institute. “On the other, hundreds of thousands of immigrant youth have not yet gained a status that can change their lives in measurable ways, allowing them improved job prospects, the ability to apply for driver’s licenses and more.”
Eligible youth were most likely to apply for DACA relief in Arizona, Texas, Nevada, Colorado and North Carolina, and least likely to apply in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Virginia, Florida and Maryland, MPI’s report found. Teenagers were more likely to apply for DACA than immigrants in their 20s, and Latin Americans were more likely to apply than Asians.
Youth who met all of DACA’s requirements except for education tended to be older and less proficient in English.
“For many, access to adult education programs, including English as a Second Language and basic skills instruction, is critical to meeting DACA’s education requirements,” said Margie McHugh, director of MPI’s National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy.
Some undocumented immigrants, however, may be afraid of signing up for any government program. Even without being in DACA, the risk of being deported is slim because immigration enforcement officials are swamped by the sheer numbers of undocumented immigrants. Some immigrants may feel that it’s safer to remain in the shadows, since DACA is just a discretionary program and could end at any time.
DACA is an experiment that will be instructive if Congress ever gets to point of passing comprehensive immigration reform. Just because the federal government offers a program that allows undocumented immigrants to obtain legal status doesn’t mean that all of these immigrants will choose to sign up for it, especially if it means paying fines and back taxes
http://www.bizjournals.com/bizjournals/washingtonbureau/2014/08/many-dreamers-arent-signing-up-for-obamas.html