When President Barack Obama announced that he would direct the Department of Homeland Security to grant deferred deportation and a work permit for two years to undocumented immigrant youth who meet certain criteria, he renewed hope for a better future for a million young people.
“There aren’t really words to express how we felt at that time,” says Lorella Praeli, policy coordinator for the immigrant advocacy organization, United We Dream. Since the June 15 announcement, tens of thousands of people like Frida, 18, an undocumented student at San Jacinto Community College in Texas, have started to gather personal documents and apply for the program.
The teen, who did not want to disclose her last name for privacy reasons, says she first went to the Mexican Consulate to get official identification to provide the U.S. government for her application. Her aunt then sent her the forms to fill out and send in. Yet, the jargon-filled documents stopped her in her tracks and fear started to set in.
“When you turn it in, you’re turning in everything and you’re saying, ‘Hey, here I am, and I’m illegal,’” says the high school senior who will be graduating next year with an associate degree. “It’s not a legal document yet. The DREAM [Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors] Act has not technically been approved by every legislative branch that needs to approve it.”
According to guidelines set out by the federal government last summer, undocumented immigrants who entered the United States before turning 16 years old, were under the age of 31 on the day President Obama made the pronouncement, have continuously stayed in the country since June 15, 2007, and are currently in school, have graduated, earned a GED or are veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces are eligible to receive protection from deportation for two years and permission to work—that is, if they have not been convicted of serious crimes.
Battling misinformation
Lauren Burke, an adjunct law professor at Brooklyn College of Law and a counselor at the community organization, Atlas: DIY, says it’s not surprising that there has been so much miscommunication about the president’s deferred action program.
