From the National Partnership for New Americans (http://partnershipfornewamericans.org/):
DHS cruelty is causing 50,000 DACA holders to lose their DACA, their jobs, their studies, and their protection from deportation.
October 5 was the renewal deadline for 154,000 out of 800,000 DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) holders, whose current DACA protections expire between Sep. 5, 2017 and March 5, 2018. Estimates are that between 45,000 to 50,000 of these undocumented youth, brought to this nation as minors, will not apply to renew their DACA and will lose their jobs, their ability to study, and their protection from deportation.
NPNA and our allies, the business community, a federal judge, and dozens of U.S. Senators and Members of Congress, implored Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Elaine Duke to extend this deadline. We pointed out that DHS made no effort to inform eligible youth of the changed requirements; that many youth cannot collect the required $495 application fee on such short notice; and that DHS made no effort to work with immigrant, legal, faith, and ethnic media organizations to get the information needed to the 154,000 eligible youth.
Today, according to the USCIS, at least 48,200 of the over 154,000 DACA recipients required to renew by the October 5 deadline have yet to re-enroll.
The National Partnership for New Americans (NPNA), our nation’s largest coalition of immigrant community legal services providers, released the following statement:
“The decision to force 154,000 DACA holders to re-enroll by October 5 was an arbitrary, unworkable, and cruel deadline. The result has been an entirely predictable chaos and the cruel result that between 45,000 and 50,000 undocumented youth will lose their DACA and therefore their jobs, have to end their studies, and be vulnerable to deportation. DHS is responsible for the chaotic and unprofessional roll-out of this mean-spirited policy.
“That over 100,000 DREAMers were able to meet today’s October 5 deadline is a testament to the work and determination of immigrant rights groups on the ground, our legal services and state and local allies, private philanthropy, and the resilience and hard work of immigrant youth themselves. The tragedy is that despite our communities working day and night, some 45,000 undocumented young people and assets to our nation will miss today’s deadline.”
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