Local offers help with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals applications
GUYMON- Guymon resident Teri Mora started assisting students applying for DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) on June 15, 2012, when it was made available. Since sending out the first application, Mora has assisted with over 100 applicants as a public service. DACA is an administrative program that gives young undocumented immigrants protection from deportation and a work permit.
Having worked on issues regarding undocumented students since 2002, Mora has “...learned the importance of continuing to advocate for these students who have so many doors closed to them because of their lack of status.” After attending a training in Washington, D.C., for the DREAM Act, Mora and State Capitol lobbyist Shawn Lepard worked together to pass the legislation that granted undocumnted students instate tuition for college which was successfully passed in Oklahoma in 2003.
First-time DACA applicants are required to pay a fine of $495, and again every two years when they renew. “I have also learned that there are many people willing to take advantage of these students,” Mora added, which is why she has been actively informing the
public of the appropriate required documentation needed in order to apply. Needed documents must prove that the applicant arrived in the U.S. before June 15, 2007, before their 16th birthday, and that the applicant was physically present in the U.S. on June 15, 2012. Documents that can prove these things include: school records, medical and immunization records, address records with the applicant’s name, etc. Applicants must provide at least one document for each year they have been in the U.S.; however, Mora suggests they provide two or three for each year. In addition, applicants must be enrolled in school or have graduated or attained a GED. They also must not have a felony or three or more misdemeanors.
“It has been my life’s work to look for ways to empower students to better themselves, and this is an important step for those students who were brought to the U.S. by their parents or other family members without the correct documentation,” Mora expresses.