Deportation plan brings uncertainty

Families worried about future as law challenged

Jesus and Radhi Paredes know precisely how their lives could change under the stalled deportation relief plan that was proposed by President Barack Obama a year ago and that his administration appealed to the Supreme Court on Friday.

The Bolivian-born husband and wife have seen their daughter’s life transformed by a similar program initiated by Obama in 2012.

Kelly Paredes, 20, now can drive to her college classes instead of having to walk, since she no longer has to worry about being detained during a routine traffic stop.

She can apply for scholarships and well-paid jobs that require a Social Security number and a work permit.

And, with special permission, she can travel abroad — she flew to Bolivia recently to visit the ailing grandparents no one in her nuclear family had seen in 15 years.

“It ended the fear, and it opened all the doors to my life,” said Kelly, who lives with her family in Northern Virginia and plans to become a global health professional.

After failing to push comprehensive immigration reform through Congress, Obama announced executive action Nov. 20, 2014, that would offer three years of deportation relief to as many as 4 million undocumented parents of U.S.born children as well as to another group of younger illegal immigrants.

The programs are modeled after the one that gave temporary residency to Kelly and about 700,000 others who were brought to this country illegally as young children. Because Jesus and Radhi Paredes have a U.S.-born son, they would qualify.

But the programs were quickly challenged in court by conservative governors, who said they would impose a financial burden on states and claimed that Obama did not have the authority to take such sweeping unilateral action. Plans denounced

Obama’s proposals also have been roundly denounced by 2016 Republican presidential candidates and other immigration hard-liners, who say that those who came here ille- gally should not be given a lawful way to remain.

A federal appeals court in New Orleans ruled in favor of the governors last week. The Obama administration on Friday appealed that ruling to the Supreme Court, and it hopes to get both programs approved in time to process some applicants before Obama leaves office in 14 months.

In the meantime, tens of thousands of families like the Paredeses — each a legal mishmash of undocumented parents, temporarily legalized older children and younger U.S.-citizen children— remain in limbo.

“We have been desperately waiting for this, and we have all our documents ready to apply,” said Jesus, 41, a slight, soft-spoken man who works in home construction and repair. “Our children are on a solid path now, but we are still stuck and living with the same stress every day.” ‘Devastated’

Under Obama’s 2014 proposal, known as “extended” DACA, the residency rules would be eased so that young people who have lived in the United States full time for the past five years can qualify. Some of Kelly’s friends from community college have been waiting for such an opportunity. One of them, a straight-A student, just learned that she is a year shy of the residency requirement.

“She is devastated,” Kelly said. “She is super-intelligent, and we talked a lot about studying for professional careers. Now I think she is going to drop out.”

For young people who do qualify, immigrant advocates said the application process would be relatively simple: Applicants would need proof of their work, school and residence histories.

“Basically, we could be ready to start working on expanded DACA cases the day after the Supreme Court hands down a decision,” said lawyer Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg with the Legal Aid Justice Center in Falls Church, Va. The center helped several hundred young people apply for DACA in 2012.

For older couples, the process could be more complicated and timeconsuming, advocates say. Undocumented parents hoping to win deportation relief under Obama’s proposed Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents, or DA PA, must prove that they have U.S.-born children.