On July 17, 2024, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced that undocumented spouses and children of US citizens who are eligible to apply for legal status and a pathway to citizenship through the parole in place process may submit applications starting August 19, 2024. Additional details about eligibility and the application process will be published in a “forthcoming Federal Register notice.”
Read moreBiden Unveils Relief Program for Undocumented Spouses and Children of US Citizens and Dreamers
On June 18, 2024, President Biden formally announced an immigration program that will afford legal status and a pathway to citizenship to undocumented spouses and children of US citizens who have been living in the US for at least ten years as well as ease the transition to employment-based nonimmigrant status for Dreamers with a US degree and a job offer.
Read moreRecent Ruling puts DACA in Jeopardy (Again)
On September 13, 2023, the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas ruled that the Biden Administration’s codification of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (“DACA”) is not legal. The ruling does not prevent DACA beneficiaries enrolled in the program prior to July 16, 2021, to renew their status. United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) will also continue to accept new applications from first-time, would-be DACA recipients; However, they will not process any new applications.
Read moreUndocumented Immigrants Also Paid Their Taxes
April 18th marked Tax Day for citizens of US, but did you know that undocumented immigrants also pay taxes? According to the American Immigration Council undocumented immigrants are paying billions of dollars each year in taxes. In spite of their undocumented status, and lack of standing in our country, “these immigrants—and their family members—are adding value to the U.S. economy, not only as taxpayers, but as workers, consumers, and entrepreneurs as well.” Millions of people who lack social security numbers are filing taxes with Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (“ITIN”).
Read moreSixty Years later, MLK Inspires Todays’ DREAMers
DACA is Codified, but Remains in Jeopardy
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (“DACA”) program celebrated a decade of existence earlier this year. DACA went into effect as an executive order signed by President Obama to protect undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States as minors without “the formal agency rulemaking process, which requires public notice and comment”. It was intended as a “stopgap measure to protect some of the nation’s most vulnerable immigrants”, from deportation and allow beneficiaries to obtain work authorization and reside legally in the US. DACA was never meant to be a permanent solution but a means to be used for a limited time until Congress passed new immigration legislation addressing the immigration status of certain undocumented minors.
Read moreDreamers Living in Fear
When Dreamers Find Themselves in Limbo
A decade ago, President Obama signed an executive order instituting The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (“DACA”) program, which protects undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States as minors. This program acknowledges that the beneficiaries have been raised in the United States and “pledge allegiance to our flag. They are Americans in their heart, in their minds, in every single way but one - on paper.” The program was a temporary solution which does not provide a pathway to permanent residency or citizenship in the United States. Instead, it was intended as a “stopgap measure to protect some of the nation’s most vulnerable immigrants”, known as Dreamers, from deportation. The program also enabled beneficiaries to obtain work authorization and reside legally in the US in two-year intervals. DACA was created as a temporary measure until Congress passed new immigration legislation addressing the immigration status of certain undocumented minors.
Read moreThis Isn't The End
The Washington Post: “How a flight attendant from Texas ended up in an ICE detention center for six weeks.”
DACA beneficiary Selene Saavedra Roman from Peru, who has lived in the US for twenty-five years and is a flight attendant for Mesa Airlines, was detained shortly after she landed in Houston on a return flight from Mexico in February. Saavedra Roman remained in custody for six weeks and was released last Friday, but advocates are pointing to her case as an example of how the Trump administration’s attempts to end DACA continue to confuse program beneficiaries, their families, government agencies, and private employers.
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