‘Dreamers’ scramble to remain protected
Many reregister, seeking a shield from deportation
When U.S. immigration officials said Jan. 13 they would honor a court order and accept renewal applications from the young people known as “Dreamers” whose fate is at the center of a congressional stalemate, Jose Perez was ready.
But first, the 21-year-old East Bay college student and jewelry consultant had to get paid. The application price for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, is $495. Perez didn’t have the cash, no matter how important it was.
He got his paycheck Thursday. By Friday, he had met with his attorney, filled out his application and sent it off.
“It’s like a wave of calm,” he said.
Still, Perez, like many others across the country, doesn’t know for sure whether his application will be processed and result in a two-year extension of his protected status, which is now set to run out in May. He could only invest and hope.
President Trump ordered the childhood arrivals program rescinded in September, while allowing those who had permits expiring before March 5 to apply for renewals. Months later, the uncertainty around DACA — which protects nearly 700,000 people from deportation and provides them work permits — has only grown, even as Democrats push for Congress to save it.
On Jan. 9, U.S. District Judge William Alsup ordered the government to allow renewal applications from DACA recipients. Alsup ruled that the Trump administration had offered “no reasonable explanation” for ending the program that former President Barack Obama created in 2012.
The Department of Justice appealed Alsup’s ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, and on
Friday the agency requested a hearing in February. The government said it did not ask the court to suspend the ruling until the appeal is heard because that would lead to another “abrupt shift” in immigration policy, rather than the “orderly wind-down” of the program that the administration prefers.
Where that leaves Perez and others is unclear.
When asked whether the government would accept the applications now coming in regardless of future court decisions — or refund the $495 fee if it won’t — a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services spokesperson said the agency “does not comment on litigation, including potential outcomes.”
This hasn’t stopped waves of applicants from filing into the offices of attorneys and advocates, seeking help with their renewals. To qualify for DACA, immigrants must have come to the United States without authorization before age 16, and have lived in the U.S. continuously since 2007.
In Los Angeles, Marissa Montes, co-director of the Loyola Immigrant Justice Clinic in Los Angeles, said a young man applied whose protection was set to expire March 7, meaning he could be one of the first subject to possible deportation if he is denied an extension.
In the Bay Area, a mother eight months pregnant came to the Catholic Charities of the East Bay office in Concord for help with her 17-year-old son’s renewal application. She brought money she had saved for baby supplies. His protections are set to run out in mid-March.
The organization paid the fee, following its practice of helping those who can’t afford it. As of Friday, the Catholic Charities office had seen or scheduled appointments with 90 DACA clients, said Ingrid Ovelar-Laterza, legal services supervisor.
“The whole legal department has prioritized the efforts to help clients’ renewals, as we do not know long this window will remain open,” she said. “Dreamers are anxious and feel in limbo while Washington is playing political games with their fate.”
Nearly 13,000 DACA recipients are scheduled to lose their status in March, and another 19,000 will hit their deadlines in April and May, according to the government.
Officials said that if renewal applications are filed more than 150 days prior to expiration, they may be denied. Still, Montes said clients who do not fit this criteria are asking whether they should file anyway, while Judge Alsup’s ruling is in force.
Leon Rodriguez, former head of the citizenship and immigration agency for 2½ years beginning in mid-2014, said the agency should accept the applications regardless of what happens in the legal progress.
“It seems fair play,” he said. If the applications are not accepted, he said, the fees should at least be returned.
“As all of this starting and stopping goes on, people are ending up stranded without work authorization,” Rodriguez said. “There is harm, has been harm, and will continue to be harm, some of which will be irretrievable if people have lost months of an ability to work because of the chaotic way in which it has all unfolded.”
Attorneys expect a bigger rush of clients if it becomes clear that Congress will not come up with a deal to protect Dreamers.
“We are determined to help as many individuals as we can,” Montes said, “even if it means working long hours and weekends.”
Hamed Aleaziz is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: haleaziz@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @haleaziz
“As all of this starting and stopping goes on, people are ending up stranded without work authorization. There is harm, has been harm, and will continue to be harm.”
Leon Rodriguez, former director, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services