Tag: DACA

DACA was once a lifeline for undocumented youth. It’s leaving the next generation behind

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Alex immigrated to the U.S. as a toddler and has long felt haunted by his undocumented status.

In 2017, when he turned 15, he was finally old enough to apply for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, only for it to slip from his grasp right before he started the paperwork, when it was rescinded by the Trump administration.

Then, in 2020, Alex was set to graduate at the top of his class and had racked up a slew of college acceptances, including a full ride to Harvard University. He ultimately declined because of his status, worried about travel restrictions. Instead, he enrolled in a nearby University of California campus.

“It was almost like the system was taunting me,” said Alex, who is now a Cal State University graduate student and chose to use his middle name for fear of being targeted by immigration authorities. “No matter how you excel, the system always comes back to haunt you, to remind you that you did all of that, and yet you really don’t have a choice.”

A promise of work authorization and deportation protection pulled a generation of undocumented youth out of the shadows when DACA first went into effect in 2012. Yet, hundreds of thousands of today’s students like Alex are largely left out because of the ongoing legal battle that has largely frozen applications since 2017.

These students’ lives are further upended by the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement strategy this year. DACA recipients and international students have been targeted, which has cast a cloud over higher education attainment for undocumented youth with even less protections.

Gaby Pacheco, who was undocumented while in high school and helped spearhead organizing efforts that led to DACA in the 2000s, said the current undocumented youth are “experiencing the same kind of heartbreaks” and limitations that her generation did.

“It is keeping people chained and, in a sense, locking up their potential and their dreams,” said Pacheco, who serves as president and chief executive of TheDream.US, a scholarship program. Among the most prominent barriers are being barred from federal aid, certain scholarships and work opportunities, she said.

Many of these concerns aren’t new, but “they feel so much bigger and closer than they ever have before” because of the hostile immigration strategy and rhetoric, said Corinne Kentor, a senior manager of research and policy at the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration.

Undocumented youth have long been at the center of the country’s immigration debate. What has resulted is a web of shaky piecemeal legislation determining their status, which is being challenged nationwide.

DACA survived President Trump’s 2017 legal challenge when the Supreme Court ruled in 2020 that his administration didn’t take the proper steps to end the program.

This year, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling that would uphold DACA nationwide but remove work authorization for recipients residing in Texas. Protections would stay the same in all other states, and applications could potentially reopen. The ruling is pending a decision by a judge in the lower courts on how its implementation will work.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), along with Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), reintroduced the Dream Act in early December, the most recent attempt of many over the last two decades to provide young immigrants a path to citizenship.

The current Trump administration is attempting to further close the door by suing California in November, alleging that the state’s decades-long offering of in-state tuition to undocumented students is unlawful. The action follows similar legal steps taken by the federal government to end tuition equity laws in states across the country.

“I feel like my family and I have been tossed into a video game,” Alex said. “Like the console gets turned on every morning, you know, and it’s a challenge and it’s a game and I’ve got to survive.”

Who are today’s undocumented students?

There hasn’t yet been a noticeable decline in the 80,000 undocumented students enrolled in the state.

Undocumented students can apply for state financial aid through the California Dream Act, but applications have dropped by 15% this academic year, with just over 32,000 applications submitted. Applications have steadily declined since 2018.

Advocates warn that this drop is a result of DACA’s legal challenges and young people being increasingly nervous about sharing their personal information with government-run programs.

More than half a million undocumented people are enrolled in higher education, but less than 30% of them qualify for DACA, according to the Higher Ed Immigration Portal. Most current high school students were born after 2007 and are automatically aged out of the program.

The average age of the more than 500,000 active DACA recipients is 31, with nearly 90% being older than 26. The population has also shrunk, down from its peak of more than 700,000 recipients, with some adjusting their status through marriage or children, said Javier Carbajal-Ramos, a coordinator for the Dream Resource Center at Los Angeles Valley College.

“We call them the original undocumented students,” Carbajal-Ramos said. “They’re people that really had an opportunity and they most likely took it. But then, the system changed.”

Alex, who was brought to the country by his mother from El Salvador in the early 2000s, couldn’t qualify for DACA because he was five years shy of the minimum age to apply.

“I grew up feeling silenced, and then there was this period of time where I felt like I could speak and I could take back my voice. … Now, I feel like I’ve been shut up,” Alex said. “My story is being determined by everybody else except myself. My past, my present and my future are all being negotiated by people who legitimately don’t see humanity in me.”

Higher education is a gamble

Attending college is a risk for undocumented students. Many opt to go straight into the workforce instead, a choice that Alex said “is pretty clear for most” of his peers.

Those who do take that gamble are often committed to the importance of education, said Iliana Perez, a former DACA recipient and the executive director of Immigrants Rising. Many immigrant families, like Alex’s, are initially drawn to the U.S. with aspirations for education access and social mobility.

“My mom’s biggest mistake has always been thinking that there were going to be people on this side of the border who believed in her child just as much as she does,” Alex said. “They’ve done all that they can to continue to believe for me and for themselves that something has to work.”

School has always felt like a “veil of protection” for Alex. A fear of entering the workforce was one factor that motivated him to continue in academia.

Often, an education can also afford students more leverage in legal battles and allow them to pursue work opportunities abroad or paths such as self-employment and entrepreneurship, Perez said.

Many schools now offer support services and fellowships that can provide financial compensation in the form of stipends, largely due to the organizing efforts of previous generations of undocumented students, Carbajal-Ramos said.

One undocumented college senior worked at a summer program for her Cal State University campus after her first year because it was paid through a stipend. A yearlong academic position was also available but paid an hourly wage, meaning she was not eligible.

The department leaders, however, were committed to offering her the position and paid her through a scholarship instead, she said, which allowed her to generate income while in school.

“It wasn’t something that I asked for. They did it themselves. For that, I’m really, really grateful,” said the senior, who requested The Times not use her name because she doesn’t have legal status. “It was surprising seeing a group of people that really wanted to help me out.”

Colleges and universities across the country also have established dream resource centers, which provide services, grants and support to immigrant students. There are 161 centers at campuses across the state, including nearly all community colleges and every Cal State and UC campus; 14 private universities also have dream centers in California.

Carbajal-Ramos, who is the regional representative for centers across the Los Angeles area, said it’s important to meet students where they are and not shy away from the precarious realities they live in. He serves at least 1,000 undocumented students in his role as a coordinator at Los Angeles Valley College.

“When somebody really tells you that you can’t, you either give up or you fight, right? And we came here because of the fight,” Carbajal-Ramos said. “They have the ganas. They have the drive. It’s my responsibility to keep it that way.”

Alex, who is now only months away from finishing his master’s degree, is hoping to enroll in a PhD program next fall. The applications often require he plan out what the next five years of his academic journey could look like, a task that has proved exceptionally difficult.

“I really can’t think about my life for the next five years,” he said. “I can’t even think about my life tonight. The drive home scares me. Coming to campus scares me. Walking from my car terrifies me. I live my life between breaths.”

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Itzel Luna

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December 11, 2025
DACA changes could leave tens of thousands of Texans ineligible to work

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The dome of the Texas Capitol in Austin on Aug. 28, 2025. A court ruling stemming from a lawsuit brought forth by Texas will make it illegal for DACA recipients to work in the state.

Eleanor Dearman

edearman@star-telegram.com

An impending federal ruling is expected to strip Texas DACA recipients of their work authorizations, impacting tens of thousands of people in the state.

In 2021, U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Hanen of the Southern District of Texas ruled that DACA violated the Administrative Procedure Act, but his ruling did not end the program. It only paused the approval of new applications. Now, he’s considering a new proposal put forth by U.S. attorneys for application approval to resume.

However, in March, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a mandate that stated the deportation protections afforded by DACA could be severed from the employment benefits granted under the program in Texas.

As a result of this mandate, Hanen is expected to limit DACA’s scope within the state. It would mean DACA recipients wouldn’t be deported, but they couldn’t legally hold a job in Texas.

This goes back to a federal lawsuit filed in 2018 in which Texas, along with other states, argued that employment authorizations adversely impacted the economic and labor interests of native-born residents. To date, Texas has been the only state to demonstrate damages resulting from DACA in court.

According to the latest figures, there are more than 90,000 DACA recipients in Texas.

DACA — Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals — is a humanitarian program that gives legal protection and other benefits, including the authorization to work, to people who immigrated to the U.S. as children.

A DACA recipient in Fort Worth who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of being targeted by immigration officials said her life has been upended as she awaits the ruling on employment authorizations.

“It’s scary,” she said. “We aren’t being treated as humans. It’s like people lost their humanity card.”

The woman told the Star-Telegram she came to the U.S. from Mexico with her parents when she was 2. She graduated from high school in 2015, has a job, is raising a son and has never known another home outside this country.

Now, she fears she’ll have to leave for another state, disrupting her son’s life and education in the process. She doesn’t want to do that, but if she’s unable to work in Texas, she sees no other option.

For her, the most disappointing part is that she believes she’s being punished despite being a tax-paying, law-abiding and contributing member of the community.

“People like to use the word ‘illegal’ when talking about DACA recipients,” she said. “No, we’re here legally. We’re following the rules. It’s frustrating when they’re comparing us with people who commit crimes and choose to cross (unlawfully). You realize I was a kid, I was 2, right? I had no knowledge of it. I was innocent.”

Who qualifies for DACA?

To qualify for DACA protection, an individual must have arrived in the U.S. when they were under 16 and must have continuously resided in the country, along with meeting other age and residency guidelines.

Additionally, DACA applicants were required to be in school or to have graduated, or to have served in the military, and they could not have been convicted of a felony, a serious misdemeanor or multiple misdemeanors while in the U.S.

DACA recipients must file for renewal every two years. Currently, there is no path to permanent U.S. citizenship through DACA.

DACA was established by a Department of Homeland Security memorandum in 2012. The Trump administration tried unsuccessfully to rescind DACA in 2017. In 2022, the Biden administration solidified the program with what is called the “Final Rule,” which included a provision allowing the employment authorization portion to be severed from the rest of the rules governing DACA.

After ruling against DACA in 2021, Hanen in 2023 maintained that the Final Rule did not significantly differ from the original 2012 memorandum and was therefore unlawful.

The National Immigration Law Center has a timeline of DACA litigation on its website.

How would the new ruling impact DACA recipients and first-time applicants?

If Hanen agrees with the federal government’s latest proposal, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services could begin processing new DACA applications. But the appeals court mandate would mean first-time DACA applicants in Texas would not have the right to work, and existing DACA recipients who are working could lose their ability to do so.

In other states, there would be no change to the program, and DACA recipients would still be granted employment authorization documents.

Texas was one of 10 states that sued the federal government in 2018 to end DACA. In January 2025, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that portions of the DACA were unlawful and that Texas had demonstrated damages.

Texas’ argument was that DACA cost the state and local communities more than $750 million each year for education and other services. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay, and the case returned to Hanen’s court for further consideration, though proceedings have been paused due to the federal government shutdown, as reported by the Texas Tribune.

Now, Texas DACA recipients are anxiously waiting to see what happens next and planning for an uncertain future should work authorizations be revoked.

The source who spoke with the Star-Telegram said she and other DACA recipients do not qualify for state or federal benefits, and she’s unsure why people believe they’re a burden on state resources. She said it’s quite the opposite — that DACA recipients are an integral part of the communities in which they live, contributing to the economy and performing vital functions, like teaching in Texas schools.

A 2022 article published by the National Education Association said there were approximately 15,000 educators nationwide who were DACA recipients.

“Having DACA is a blessing,” she told the Star-Telegram. “The only difference between me and someone else is just a piece of paper and where I was born.”

Matt Adams

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Matt Adams is a news reporter covering Fort Worth, Tarrant County and surrounding areas. He previously wrote about aviation and travel and enjoys a good weekend road trip. Matt joined the Star-Telegram in January 2025.

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Matthew Adams

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October 21, 2025
U.S. will consider new applications for DACA for the first time in years

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WASHINGTON — For the first time in four years, the federal government plans to begin processing initial applications for DACA, the Obama-era program that grants deportation protection and work permits to immigrants brought to the U.S. as children.

The move, outlined in a proposal Monday by the Justice Department, would reopen DACA to first-time applicants in every state except Texas. The proposal was filed in response to an ongoing lawsuit in U.S. district court in Brownsville, Tex.

According to the filing, Texas residents who already have DACA could continue receiving protection from deportation but would no longer qualify for employment authorization.

Lawsuits over DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, have been ongoing since President Trump moved to end the program during his first term.

Under the government’s proposal, DACA recipients who move into Texas would risk losing their legal ability to work, while moving out of Texas could allow them to resume qualifying for a two-year work permit.

The proposal is pending a final decision by U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Hanen.

“These proposals do not limit DHS from undertaking any future lawful changes to DACA,” the filing states.

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment.

Juliana Macedo do Nascimento, deputy director of federal advocacy for United We Dream, said misinformation was circulating Tuesday on social media.

“We’ve seen a lot of folks saying initial applications will start right away. That’s not true,” she said. “The status quo stays. If you are a DACA recipient right now, even in Texas, if you can renew you should renew as soon as possible because then you have another two years.”

Other advocacy groups, such as the nonprofit Dreamers2gether, urged DACA recipients and hopeful applicants to leave Texas and file a change of address form with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

More than 525,000 immigrants are currently enrolled in DACA. Texas follows California in the ranking of states with the highest number of program enrollees, according to USCIS.

To qualify, applicants must prove they came to the U.S. before they turned 16 and have graduated from high school or were honorably discharged from the military. Applicants also cannot have serious criminal records.

But for years the program has sat in a state of uncertainty, stoking anxiety for many recipients, amid court battles that stopped applications from being processed and left many younger people who would have aged into qualifying for DACA instead vulnerable to deportation.

In this first term, Trump attempted to shut down the program, but the Supreme Court concluded in 2020 that his administration had acted improperly. The court did not rule on the program’s legality.

Because of the court battle, the program has been closed to new applicants since 2021, though current recipients could still renew their work permits.

Los Angeles resident Atziri Peña, 27, runs a clothing company called Barrio Drive that donates proceeds toward helping DACA recipients renew their applications.

Peña, who also has DACA, said she knows many people in Texas who are thinking about moving out of state. The latest news is another example of how the immigration system breaks families apart, she said.

“A lot of us who are DACA recipients, we don’t necessarily know what it was like to be undocumented before DACA, so most of us have careers that we won’t be able to continue,” Peña said.

United We Dream has recorded at least 19 current DACA recipients detained by immigration agents in recent months. In one case in Texas, immigration authorities have kept Catalina “Xochitl” Santiago detained despite an immigration judge saying she cannot be deported.

“It’s a way of making sure she can’t renew her DACA and then she becomes deportable,” said Macedo do Nascimento. In her view, the Department of Homeland Security’s attitude toward DACA recipients lately has diminished the protections it offers.

“The bigger picture here is DHS is moving onto a new policy on DACA anyway — without having to go through the courts, the rulemaking process or taking DACA away altogether,” she said. “They’re really trying to end the program piece by piece, recipient by recipient.”

Even so, immigrants across the country are looking forward to applying for DACA for the first time.

“While we could still get detained, it’s a little bit of a sense of safety and hope,” Peña said. “I have heard of people who are just waiting for DACA to reopen. But let’s see what happens and let’s hope they don’t use this as a way to catch more of us.”

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Andrea Castillo, Rachel Uranga

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September 30, 2025
Flashback: Kamala Harris Says Americans Shouldn’t Say Merry Christmas Until Some Illegal Aliens Are Granted Amnesty

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Screenshot: New York Post YouTube

Kamala Harris, in a resurfaced video, chastised Americans for daring to say ‘Merry Christmas’ when there were illegal aliens who hadn’t been granted permanent legal status, or amnesty.

The shocking clip, which circulated on X Thursday, shows the then-senator clearly appalled that the American people would celebrate their Christmas and not think about so-called ‘Dreamers.’

“And when we all sing happy tunes, and sing Merry Christmas, and wish each other Merry Christmas, these children are not going to have a Merry Christmas,” Harris bellows.

“How dare we speak Merry Christmas. How dare we? They will not have a Merry Christmas.”

Unearthed clip of Kamala Harris scolds people for saying “Merry Christmas” because illegals might not get to celebrate: “HOW DARE WE SPEAK MERRY CHRISTMAS?” pic.twitter.com/zBq6hDX9l3

— TheBlaze (@theblaze) August 1, 2024

RELATED: Kamala Harris’ Authenticity Problem Takes A Hit As She’s Accused Of Using Fake Southern Accent At Atlanta Rally

Kamala Harris Complains: No Merry Christmas For Illegals

The video of Kamala Harris scolding Americans for daring to say ‘Merry Christmas’ because they should be focused on granting illegal aliens amnesty is rather shocking.

And it doesn’t help the Democrat nominee for President as she, with the help of the media, tries to rewrite her own history and portray herself as someone who will be tough on border security.

Harris’ comments came in 2017 as Congress was debating the Dream Act, legislation designed to give Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients a path to permanent residency.

‘Dreamers’, as adults, have had nearly 20 years to set about taking the path to legal citizenship, much like those who enter the United States legally and follow the process.

Former President Donald Trump, at the time of Kamala Harris’s ‘Merry Christmas’ remarks, had recently announced the end of DACA, which shielded some minor illegals from deportation.

Trump at the time demanded Congress work together to strike a deal that would extend protections for ‘Dreamers’, but also provide better border security, including a wall. They couldn’t do it.

DACA was declared illegal by a federal judge in Texas in 2023.

RELATED: Scientific American Mocked After Claiming Kamala Harris Would Bring ‘Lifelong Familiarity With Science’ To White House Because Her Mom Was a Scientist

So Extreme, She Wanted To Allow Illegals The Right To Work In Congress

As the makeover of Kamala Harris from a ‘you can’t say Merry Christmas when illegals are suffering’ extremist to ‘she’s tough on the border akshually’ presidential candidate is ongoing, it’s important to note just how extreme she has been on the issue.

Not only should they be rewarded for having entered the country illegally, there should be no restrictions on their choice of vocation.

Harris, in 2019, co-sponsored a bill that would allow ‘Dreamers’ to work as staffers or interns in Congress.

The legislation – known as The American Dream Employment Act – would, according to Harris at the time, allow DACA recipients to ‘give back to their country.’

Their country?

“The giant sign outside my office says ‘DREAMers Welcome Here’ because we know and value the contributions that these young people have made to their communities,” Harris said.

“But right now, those same young people are banned from giving back to their country by working for Congress,” she went on. “That has to change. Government works best when it reflects the people it represents.”

Kamala Harris is an open-borders extremist. If she’s elected President, it will be an even greater free-for-all at the border than it was under Biden’s reign. And nobody will have a Merry Christmas.

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Rusty Weiss

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August 2, 2024
‘Dreamers’ have faced barriers to a better life

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On December 4, news broke that immigration negotiations between six bipartisan senators had fallen apart. These talks revolved around Republicans pushing changes to asylum in return for aid for Israel and Ukraine. It’s a common event in immigration policy—many small groups of Senators have tried and failed to find a consensus. But it’s unfortunate because smart immigration reform has the potential to improve the lives of both Americans and those arriving at our shores.

States have recently been taking matters into their own hands, some with efforts to keep immigrants out (as in Texas’s border barriers) and others with efforts to better integrate immigrants (like in-state college tuition and language training support). Neither approach, however, has had much success. Our new study (joint with Susan Averett and Grace Condon) shows that integrating undocumented immigrants is more complex than what states can do alone. A real solution for “Dreamers” and the undocumented immigrants in the country will require Congress to open the nation’s golden door to them.

Young undocumented immigrants in the U.S. who arrived with their parents before age 16 can be thought of as “Dreamers.” According to the Migration Policy Institute, there are over 3 million. The migration decision was not theirs. Their status puts them in a sort of limbo—they have spent most of their lives in the U.S. but do not have the authorization of the federal government to work legally, receive government benefits, or, in many states, access in-state low-cost tuition for higher education. This sort of twilight status is a problem for immigrants and our entire country. It is in the nation’s best interest to promote education among undocumented youth because they are here to stay. As you might expect, more educated people are less likely to draw on public assistance and more likely to enter high-paying occupations.

Undocumented immigrants make extensive contributions to the country even when lacking legal status. For example, they contribute $11.6 billion in state and local taxes each year through sales, property, and personal income taxes. Undocumented immigrants have a net positive effect on U.S. federal welfare programs—they put more money in than they take out.

The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) of 1996 prohibited access to in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants at the federal level. Since then, more than half of U.S. states have granted in-state tuition to undocumented youth who have graduated from high school and have spent, on average, three years in their state.

Only 5 percent to 10 percent of undocumented high school graduates pursue higher education, compared to the national average of 62.5 percent. Despite the generosity of these states, our new research finds that in-state tuition alone doesn’t uniformly boost enrollment and completion rates for college degrees. For those who are undocumented and can’t legally work, it could be that they simply don’t see a reason to invest in schooling. Even if they finish their degree, they can’t take it to employers as proof of their skills and knowledge as companies cannot legally employ them.

There are some differences based on gender. Our results suggest that access to in-state tuition rates does not increase enrollment among women but allows them to stay in school and complete their degrees. Men, on the other hand, are incentivized to take a college class at a lower cost but the impact is short-lived as they are not more likely to graduate.

Meanwhile, we also evaluate the role of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program (DACA), a federal directive that was announced in 2012 and has given access to legal employment and deferral of deportation to over a half-million young adults. In our study, we find that DACA does not encourage eligible youth to invest in higher education, possibly since the policy alone did not lower tuition costs. While DACA eligibility does not impact enrollment rates, we show that overall it is positively associated with graduation which may result in higher returns in the formal labor market. We confirm that DACA incentivizes youth to work more, as expected, and results in lower rates of self-employment, as this group of undocumented youth likely has access to the formal labor market. However, DACA recipients must reapply every two years to stay in the country. Their limbo got more uncertain when, in September, a Texas court ruled the program unconstitutional and they are now waiting on an appeal in federal courts.

The fundamental story is simple: The lack of access to legal employment reduces the power of in-state tuition access to motivate students to attend and complete post-secondary schooling. This becomes a problem when you zoom out and think about the families and children of undocumented immigrants. The children of undocumented people in the U.S. are, by birthright, U.S. citizens. Today’s failure to educate and lift their parents dims their prospects. These children are likely to be more secure if their parents hold better jobs and are more productive. In addition, more educated households are less likely to depend on public assistance.

The patchwork opportunities for undocumented youth will continue to limit their potential returns to education, dampen U.S. productivity, and negatively impact public fiscal coffers. So what to do? With approximately 3 million undocumented youth who grew up in the U.S., there is tremendous potential for them to contribute to the formal labor market and enhance economic growth. They are already here and ready to contribute, the benefits are there to be captured. It is a low-hanging fruit and a win-win for the undocumented youth and the U.S. economy. A comprehensive plan would involve both in-state tuition and access to legal employment along with the path to permanent residency.

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Eva Dziadula

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December 14, 2023
Federal judge deems DACA immigrant law illegal; case likely headed for Supreme Court

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The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that prevents the deportation of immigrants brought to the U.S. as children was again ruled to be illegal by a federal judge on Wednesday.

A lawsuit filed by Texas and eight other states is suing to stop the DACA program, as conversations around immigration reform continue to heat up.

U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen ruled Wednesday in their favor, arguing the policy had not been subject to public notice and comment periods that are required by the federal Administrative Procedures Act.

Hanen’s decision prohibits the government from approving new applications, but allows the program, first created by the Obama administration in 2012, to continue as the appeals process sorts itself out.

The Supreme Court is likely to hear the case in the near future, which will be the third time DACA’s fate has been weighed by the high court.

Hanen ruled DACA illegal in 2021, and the Biden administration responded by attempting to revise the policy and subject it to the public comments as part of the process that Hanen ruled necessary.

But the judge ruled the updated version was still illegal, saying it’s up to Congress to determine what the solution was for the “Dreamers” entering the country.

The states involved in bringing the lawsuit are Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, South Carolina, West Virginia, Kansas and Mississippi.

Hanen said previously these states had a right to sue, as they have been financially harmed by the DACA program through millions of dollars incurred in health care, education and other costs to support the influx of immigrants.

As of March, there were over 570,000 people enrolled in DACA, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

With News Wire Services

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Evan Rosen

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September 13, 2023
Federal judge again declares DACA immigration program unlawful, but allows it to continue

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Washington — A federal judge on Wednesday again declared the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) immigration program unlawful, though he refrained from ordering officials to terminate deportation protections and work permits for 580,000 immigrant “Dreamers.”

At the request of Republican-led states, Judge Andrew Hanen of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas ruled that a Biden administration effort to codify the DACA policy into a federal regulation was unlawful. Hanen, who was named to the bench by former Republican President George W. Bush, issued a similar ruling in 2021, when he found that the original Obama administration memo that created DACA in 2012 was illegal.

While he agreed to a request from Republican officials in Texas and eight other states to declare the Biden administration regulation illegal, Hanen did not grant another request to order a complete termination of DACA over two years. In 2021, Hanen also allowed existing DACA beneficiaries to continue renewing their two-year work permits and deportation protections, despite closing the program to new applicants.

The Biden administration is expected to appeal Wednesday’s ruling and the case is likely to reach the Supreme Court. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, tasked with reviewing appeals of Hanen’s rulings, also declared DACA illegal last year.

Since 2012, DACA has allowed hundreds of thousands of immigrants who crossed the U.S. southern border illegally or overstayed visas as children to live and work in the country without fear of deportation if they meet certain requirements. They include lacking a serious criminal record; coming to the U.S. before June 2007 and by age 16; and graduating from an American high school or serving in the military.

As of the end of March, there were 578,680 immigrants enrolled in DACA, and more than half of them lived in California, Texas, Illinois and New York, according to government data.

DACA has been at the center of the nation’s contentious immigration debate since its inception 11 years ago, when former President Barack Obama announced it as a “stop-gap” measure amid congressional inaction on the issue.

While Congress has considered several bipartisan proposals to provide permanent legal status to DACA recipients and other unauthorized immigrants brought to the country as children since 2001, the bills have been caught up in broader, partisan debates over other immigration issues, such U.S. policy along the southern border.

As part of its larger crackdown on illegal and legal immigration, the Trump administration moved to terminate DACA in the fall of 2017. But the policy was kept alive by federal courts, including the Supreme Court, which in 2020 ruled that the Trump administration had not properly rescinded the program.

Hanen first ruled on DACA’s legality in 2021, finding that the Obama administration did not have the legal authority to grant work permits and deportation protections to hundreds of thousands of immigrants who lacked a lawful immigration status. He closed the program to new applicants, but allowed the government to continue processing renewal requests, expressing sympathy for DACA recipients and their families.

In his order on Wednesday, Hanen said there were no “material differences” between the original 2012 DACA policy and the rule published by the Biden administration in 2022 to transform the program into a federal regulation. “As such,” he wrote, “the Final Rule suffers from the same legal impediments.”

Hanen kept DACA closed to new applicants, but again suspended part of his ruling to allow current DACA beneficiaries to renew their enrollment in the program, noting he was “sympathetic” to their plight. However, Hanen was critical of the Biden administration’s regulation, saying the fate of DACA recipients needs to be decided by Congress, not federal courts or the president.

“Congress’s alleged failure to pass, or, stated differently, its decision not to enact legislation, does not empower the Executive Branch to “legislate” on its own — specially when that “legislation” is contrary to actual existing legislation,” Hanen wrote. “The Executive Branch cannot usurp the power bestowed on Congress by the Constitution — even to fill a void.”

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Camilo Montoya-Galvez

Camilo Montoya-Galvez is the immigration reporter at CBS News. Based in Washington, he covers immigration policy and politics.

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September 13, 2023
I’m An Undocumented College Student. No Matter How Hard I Work, There’s 1 Reality I Can’t Escape.

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I’m a freshman at University of Texas, San Antonio, majoring in politics and law. Like my peers, I spend my time studying for prerequisite classes like mathematics and philosophy, eating in the dining hall, or studying by UTSA’s famous Sombrilla Plaza fountain on nice spring days. But there’s one major difference between me and most other UTSA students: I won’t be able to legally work after graduation.

I came to the U.S. from Mexico in 2008. Had I arrived just one year earlier, I’d qualify for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which gives temporary legal authorization to immigrants who came here as children. Since I missed the cutoff, I don’t have a social security number, can’t get a driver’s license in the state of Texas, and don’t have a work permit or legal status.

Today, increasing numbers of undocumented students are facing these same issues. In 2021, a federal judge here in Texas ruled against the DACA program, halting all new applications. That means more than 100,000 undocumented immigrants across the nation are graduating high school without any kind of legal authorization or protection every year, including 17,000 from Texas high schools. Many of them will go on to attend Texas public colleges thanks to a 2001 state law signed by former Republican Governor Rick Perry that extends in-state tuition eligibility to undocumented students if they meet certain requirements. (Unfortunately, this wildly successful policy also remains under attack at the State Capitol and in the courts.)

Today, over 58,000 of Texas’ undocumented youth are enrolled in higher education. But once we graduate, most of us will enter the job market with a four-year degree and limited ways to use it.

I was born in Cuernavaca Morelos, Mexico, where my dad worked as a mechanic and my mom worked in retail. They had carved out a decent living, but crime permeated their day-to-day lives. One time, a gunman entered the public bus my mom was riding and assaulted the driver, demanded jewelry and money from passengers, and shot a passenger who tried to call for help. Another time, she was physically assaulted while walking down the street. When I was 4, they decided to leave the home they loved for their safety and mine.

The legal options for them were limited, requiring much more wealth than they had. My parents didn’t even know about the option of requesting asylum at the border, but that process can take years as well with no guarantees. Thus, we crossed the Rio Grande near Laredo, Texas ― my dad went first, and my mom and I followed a few months later.

We settled in Austin, where my parents got new jobs — my dad as a mechanic and small business owner, and my mom as a housecleaner and fast food worker. I enrolled in kindergarten and grew up loving school. I knew I was undocumented from an early age, but I didn’t tell many people for fear of the deportation of my entire family. My parents also couldn’t travel back home to see their families, and my dad lost his beloved brother and couldn’t attend the funeral in Mexico. Many times, I saw my mom denied for jobs that paid more because of her undocumented status.

At 12, I was connected to Breakthrough Central Texas, a local Texas organization that helps create a path to and through college for students who will become the first in their families to earn a college degree. Later, I was accepted into the Liberal Arts and Science Academy, a top-rated magnet high school. I didn’t truly understand what being undocumented meant for my future until my senior year. When I started searching for internships and part-time jobs, the reality of my situation came crashing down. Due to my immigration status, I faced enormous obstacles, far greater than my peers and friends, to achieving my dreams.

Without a social security number, most scholarships and loans were off the table. Without a work permit, part-time jobs to help me pay for school weren’t an option. And what would I do after I graduated without the ability to legally work? I was devastated to realize how much this limited my future.

This is an unfortunate reality for many undocumented young people, and it hurts the U.S. economy. Texas has major gaps in the workforce, especially in health care and education. The state suffers from a growing skilled labor shortage with nearly one million job openings unfilled as of November 2022. It makes no sense to block young people like me, who were educated in the American school system and obtained a college degree, from pathways to a career once they graduate.

We’d happily “get in line” for citizenship or documentation if such a line existed. It doesn’t. Even if one of us started a million-dollar company and created jobs for hundreds of Americans, we still wouldn’t have a direct pathway to citizenship.

Despite knowing all of this, I decided to attend college anyway. My mom often told me that “knowledge is something they can’t take away from you.” Many teachers also encouraged me to continue my education, in the hopes that the laws would change or opportunities would open up to me that I couldn’t yet see.

Today, I’m an advocacy fellow with Breakthrough Central Texas, where I have the opportunity to talk openly about my concerns, sometimes directly to lawmakers during our state’s legislative session. Recently, I submitted a personal testimony against dangerous and inhumane immigration bills that promote vigilantism, waste state taxpayers dollars, and increase criminal penalties for asylees and refugees. I speak on behalf of immigrant rights and against family separations (my three siblings were born in America, so my family would be torn apart if I or my parents were deported). I also advocate for minorities and undocumented students to have greater access to higher education, which can still provide valuable skills and connections regardless of status.

No matter my own status, I will not be living my life in the shadows. Of course the worry of deportation is still there, but I refuse to live my life in fear. If we don’t speak up about the injustices we face in this country, who will speak for us?

Only Congress can open a route to citizenship for me and other undocumented youth. This would create a world of possibilities for all us — opportunities that would ultimately benefit not just us, but ordinary Texans and our state’s economy.

I’m not sure how I’ll manage to build a career given current immigration policies. My dream is to work in law. In theory, I could go to law school and pass the bar, but still be unable to practice. I keep moving forward even though I cannot see what future is in front of me. I will keep working to find a way to illuminate the path.

Maria Ortega is a student at University of Texas, San Antonio.

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May 31, 2023
Nine Republican-led states call on judge to end DACA program

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Nine Republican-led states call on judge to end DACA program – CBS News

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Nine Republican-led states have asked a federal judge in Texas to shut down the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, also known as DACA. CBS News immigration reporter Camilo Montoya-Galvez joins John Dickerson with the latest.

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February 2, 2023
Republican-led states ask judge to shut down DACA program for immigrant

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Washington — Nine Republican-controlled states asked a federal judge in Texas on Tuesday to shut down the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in its entirety over two years, a move that would prevent nearly 600,000 immigrants known as “Dreamers” from renewing their deportation protections and work permits.

The request from the coalition of states led by Texas represents the most pressing legal threat facing the Obama-era DACA program, which has continued to this day, although in a limited way, despite the years-old lawsuit challenging its legality and former President Donald Trump’s attempts to dismantle it.

For over a decade, DACA has allowed hundreds of thousands of immigrants lacking legal status who were brought to the U.S. as children to work and live in the country without fear of deportation. But the program does not provide them permanent residency, a status only Congress can grant. As of September 2022, 589,660 young adults were enrolled in DACA, federal statistics show.

At the center of the Republican state officials’ request on Tuesday are rules the Biden administration issued to place DACA on firmer legal grounds by transforming the program into a federal regulation. In October, those regulations replaced the Obama administration memo that first created DACA in 2012.

At the request of the same group of states, U.S. District Court Andrew Hanen declared the 2012 DACA memo unlawful in the summer of 2021. Hanen’s ruling, which was upheld by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals last year, has blocked the government from approving first-time DACA applications. But it also has allowed current DACA recipients to continue renewing their enrollment in the program.

However, the states challenging DACA’s legality asked Hanen on Tuesday to find that the regulations issued last year are also unlawful and to block the government from approving renewal applications two years after a decision is made.

“The Final Rule—as the latest manifestation of the DACA program—is substantively unlawful for the same reasons as the DACA Memorandum,” the states said in their filing. “The Court should declare it unlawful and unconstitutional, vacate it in its entirety, and permanently enjoin its implementation (with a prudent transition for existing DACA recipients).”

Pro-DACA protestors hold a march outside of the U.S. Capitol Building calling for a pathway to citizenship on November 17th, 2022 in Washington, DC.

Nathan Posner/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

While the Biden administration regulations address one of the legal claims against DACA — that it should have been created through a regulation open to public comments — they will likely not change Hanen’s view that the policy itself violates U.S. law, since the regulations are identical to the 2012 memo he declared illegal.

It’s unclear, however, whether Hanen will agree to block DACA renewals in the future, since he has previously expressed concern about disrupting the lives of immigrants enrolled in the program. Hanen’s ruling is expected to be issued after April 6, the deadline for parties in the case to submit filings.

“Although we can’t predict what a ruling would look like, if Judge Hanen rules that DACA is unlawful, that decision is likely to be appealed to a higher court,” said Nina Perales, the vice president for litigation at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which is defending the program’s legality alongside the Biden administration and New Jersey.

Republican-led states ask judge to shut down DACA program by
Faris Tanyos on
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A ruling that shuts down DACA or declares the program illegal would likely be appealed to the 5th Circuit by the Biden administration, and the case could ultimately reach the Supreme Court.

The states that joined Texas’ bid to terminate DACA were Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, South Carolina, West Virginia, Kansas and Mississippi. They have argued that DACA is an illegal overreach of executive power, and that only Congress has the authority to grant unauthorized immigrants federal benefits.

The prospect of DACA’s demise could reignite discussions in Congress about legalizing those enrolled in the program, a proposal with broad bipartisan support among Americans. But efforts in Congress to pass such a proposal have collapsed repeatedly since 2001 amid broader partisan differences on U.S. immigration policy.

“Unfortunately, our Congress has been polarized and unable to pass any major immigration reform legislation — and I think that’s unlikely to happen in 2023,” said Steve Yale-Loehr, a Cornell University professor who studies the U.S. immigration system.

Yale-Loehr said the only way he sees the new Congress offering DACA beneficiaries permanent legal status is as part of a broader deal that includes measures limiting asylum along the U.S.-Mexico border to address concerns from Republican lawmakers, who hold a slim majority in the House.

Camila de Pierola, 25, who has been living in the U.S. since her family left Peru when she was a year old, said DACA’s termination would derail her dreams of becoming a physician. The Bay Area resident said she plans to attend medical school this fall, after earning her masters degree from UC Berkeley in May.

“How will I be able to financially support myself? It would be one big question mark. I’m sure there would be a lot of outrage as well,” said de Pierola, who’s been enrolled in DACA her entire adult life.

De Pierola noted that while some medical schools accept applicants enrolled in DACA, many do not accept students who don’t have legal immigration status. Residency programs also require students to show they are authorized to work in the U.S. legally.

Those enrolled in DACA had to pass background checks and satisfy several eligibility requirements, including proving that they arrived in the U.S. by age 16 and before June 2007, studied in a U.S. school or served in the military, and lacked any serious criminal record.

Two-thirds of the immigrants enrolled in DACA are between the ages of 21 and 30, and 81% were born in Mexico, according to government data. The other top countries of origin for DACA beneficiaries include El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Peru and South Korea.

The Trump administration moved to terminate DACA in the fall of 2017, arguing that the policy was unlawful. But it was kept alive by federal courts, including the Supreme Court, which in 2020 ruled that the Trump administration had not properly rescinded the program.

Still, DACA has, for the most part, been closed to new, first-time applicants over the past five years. It was opened to new enrollees for several months after a court ruling in late 2020, but Hanen, the judge in Texas, barred the approval of first-time DACA requests in July 2021, and the program has been closed ever since.

Saúl Rascón Salazar, 21, a senior at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, managed to apply for DACA just before the Trump administration tried to revoke it. He grew up in Phoenix after leaving Mexico in 2006, when he was 5 years old. While they have similar stories, one of Rascón Salazar’s younger brothers is not enrolled in DACA because it was closed to new applicants before he could satisfy the age eligibility.

“It has been exponentially more difficult for him,” Rascón Salazar said, noting his brother has struggled to access financial aid for college.

Saúl Rascón Salazar, a 21-year-old DACA beneficiary, was born in Mexico but has lived in the U.S. since he was 5 years old.

Saúl Rascón Salazar

Rascón Salazar said DACA has allowed him to work and get financial assistance to pay for college. His enrollment in the program has also motivated him to advocate on behalf of other immigrants. A court ruling that shuts down DACA, he said, “would be devastating.”

“It would be like a huge middle finger to everything that I’ve done,” Rascón Salazar added.

León Rodríguez, who oversaw DACA as director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services during former President Barack Obama’s second term, said any unilateral actions the Biden administration could take in response to a ruling that terminates the program would be limited.

The administration could enact a new policy instructing immigration agents to refrain from deporting DACA beneficiaries, without providing them work permits, but Rodríguez said that would be “almost worthless,” since this population is not a priority for deportation anyhow, at least under President Biden.

“DACA was only ever meant to be a provisional solution,” Rodríguez said, “so in some ways, it took the pressure off to do a real solution, which is a path to citizenship.”

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Camilo Montoya-Galvez

Camilo Montoya-Galvez is the immigration reporter at CBS News. Based in Washington, he covers immigration policy and politics.

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January 31, 2023
DACA, Immigration, GOP Citizenship Events And ‘Great Replacement’

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More than 2,700 people are sworn in as U.S. citizens during naturalization ceremonies on April 9, … [+] 2009, in Montebello, California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)

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Do Republican Party officials believe Latino immigrants are coming to “replace” Americans, or do they think Latinos are the party’s future? The answer affects whether there will be a legislative solution for young people brought to America by their parents.

Republican lawmakers claiming immigrants are part of a “great replacement” of White voters has been in the news for months. “Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), the No. 3 House Republican, and other GOP lawmakers came under scrutiny . . . for previously echoing the racist ‘great replacement’ theory that apparently inspired an 18-year-old who allegedly killed 10 people while targeting Black people at a supermarket in Buffalo,” reported the Washington Post (May 16, 2022). “The baseless conspiracy theory claims that politicians are attempting to wipe out White Americans and their influence by replacing them with non-White immigrants.”

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The immigration group America’s Voice has tracked election-year ads and found inflammatory rhetoric about immigrants from Republican candidates. “Almost all the Republicans running statewide in Arizona have made ‘replacement’ and ‘invasion’ conspiracies a central part of their campaigns,” according to an America’s Voice report.

Speaking at a Trump rally on October 9, 2022, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, now considered one of the highest profile Republican members of Congress, said, “Joe Biden’s 5 million illegal aliens are on the verge of replacing you, replacing your jobs, and replacing your kids in school. And coming from all over the world, they’re also replacing your culture. And that’s not great for America.”

It is difficult to square this rhetoric with the actions of the Republican National Committee, which insists Latinos are the future of the Republican Party and have held naturalization events for immigrants around the country.

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“Republicans are hoping to reap a long-term return on their outreach effort among Hispanic communities, helping new U.S. residents gain their citizenship and eventually cast their first ballot,” reported the Washington Times (October 4, 2022).

The newspaper reports the Republican National Committee (RNC) held a “graduation ceremony” in Doral, Florida, for immigrants who took civics classes to prepare for the naturalization test to become American citizens. “This is part of our long-term outreach, with community centers but also this program,” said RNC spokeswoman Nicole Morales. “We’re actually investing in these communities and uplifting these communities and not just going in a month before the election to [ask for] votes.”

The Washington Times reports the Republican National Committee “hosted and planned over 100 events for Hispanic Heritage Month” in swing states that include Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, Texas, Florida and others. Over 100 Hispanic House candidates are running as Republicans, a new record, according to the RNC.

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Immigration Legislation: The conflict between “great replacement” rhetoric and GOP outreach to Latinos affects individuals who need Congress to address their legal status.

Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) will likely become the House speaker if Republicans take control of the House of Representatives after the November 2022 election. “McCarthy is taking a very hard line on immigration policy,” reported Punchbowl News. “The California Republican is opposed to trading a pathway to citizenship or DACA [Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals] for increased border security. This is the traditional trade both parties have envisioned for years.”

For DACA supporters, the stance of House Republicans on immigration has increased the urgency for Congress to take action on DACA before January 2023. “Advocates have turned up the pressure on the Senate to pass legislation this year to establish a citizenship path for undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children, after a federal appeals court dealt yet another blow to the program that for now protects those so-called Dreamers,” reported Suzanne Monyak in Roll Call. (See here for more on DACA legal issues.)

It is also unclear whether there is sufficient Republican support to pass legislation to help another group of young people. “Documented Dreamers” entered the United States on legal visas but would be forced to leave the United States if (or once) they “age out” of their parents’ green card applications. (A documentary by Daniela Cantillo and an interview with the founder of Improve The Dream explain the issue.)

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An amendment by Rep. Deborah K. Ross (D-NC) and Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA) was included in the House defense authorization bill to “protect dependent children of green card applicants and employment-based nonimmigrants who face deportation when they age out of dependent status,” reported Roll Call. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) introduced the America’s Children Act, the Senate companion. However, the measure in the defense authorization bill will likely require 60 votes and sufficient support from Republican senators to become law.

There is reason for cautious optimism among supporters of the amendment to provide age-out protections. Five Republicans (Senators Paul, Cramer, Rounds, Blunt and Collins) are sponsors of the Senate amendment on the defense authorization bill. Two other Republicans (Ernst and Murkowski) sponsored the America’s Children Act. In response to a question, Donald Trump said he supported a legislative solution for Documented Dreamers, indicating this is not a “MAGA” issue.

The Border: At the same time the RNC was preparing its Hispanic Heritage month events, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) sought press attention by putting Venezuelan asylum seekers on a flight to Martha’s Vineyard. In an earlier era, conservative Republican Ronald Reagan likely would have lauded Venezuelan immigrants as victims of an oppressive socialist government.

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People are motivated to leave their homes for reasons independent of U.S. border policies, which means reviving all Trump administration’s border policies is unlikely to reduce the flows. Refugees and migrants are propelled by problems in their home countries that include violence, political oppression and disastrous economic policies.

More than 7.1 million refugees and migrants have left Venezuela, with most currently living in Latin America. A United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) report puts the issue in stark terms: “According to the report’s findings, half of all refugees and migrants in the region cannot afford three meals a day and lack access to safe and dignified housing. To access food or avoid living on the streets, many Venezuelans resort to survival sex, begging or indebtedness.”

Under Trump, apprehensions at the Southwest border, a proxy for illegal entry, increased by more than 100 percent between FY 2016 and FY 2019 (from 408,870 to 851,508). With the pandemic, apprehensions declined in March 2020, but by August and September 2020 returned to approximately the same level as August and September 2019.

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The Biden administration has maintained a number of Trump policies, such as expelling immigrants under Title 42 health authority to prevent them from applying for asylum. A Department of Homeland Security report released during the Trump administration concluded that many more immigrants started using human smugglers after Border Patrol enforcement increased over the past two decades.

Analysts point out Republican candidates have attacked the Biden administration for the number of people arriving at or crossing the Southwest border but have not offered practical solutions. Such solutions, analysts say, would include significantly expanding the number of available work visas and conducting refugee circuit rides to process individuals before they reach the border.

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Stuart Anderson, Senior Contributor

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October 19, 2022
10/14: CBS News Weekender

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10/14: CBS News Weekender – CBS News

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Catherine Herridge has the latest on the battle over over a special master in the Mar-a-Lago probe, a federal judge’s ruling allowing DACA to continue with some restrictions, and the impact of inflation data for the month of September.

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October 14, 2022
As DACA Program Resumes for ‘DREAMERS’, Immigration Attorney Dmitry Paniotto Weighs in on Proper Actions

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Press Release
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updated: Dec 15, 2020

LOS ANGELES, December 15, 2020 (Newswire.com)
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After a Federal Judge ordered the Trump Administration to reinstate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA), The DHS subsequently posted on its website that it is accepting first-time requests for DACA consideration, advanced parole requests, as well as renewal requests. Dmitry Paniotto, an immigration lawyer in Los Angeles, advises those who are eligible to apply.

The program provides protection from deportation for undocumented immigrants who entered the United States as children.

According to NPR, DACA currently protects about 640,000 undocumented immigrants. There are an estimated 300,000 additional people who are eligible to apply.

The DACA program began accepting applications in Summer 2012, by way of an executive branch memorandum from then-President Barack Obama. Since then, Paniotto has assisted numerous individuals in successfully applying for the program. In 2017, the Trump administration took actions to roll back the program and halt new applications, thus putting the fate of the program in question.

Just weeks ago, a U.S. District Court Judge in Brooklyn ordered the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to reinstate the program to how it was before the Trump Administration began to end the program in September 2017. Officials in the department are ordered to resume issuing two-year permits for qualifying applicants.

“DACA allows those young undocumented immigrants who have good moral character, arrived prior to 2007 and graduated from high school to apply for temporary relief from deportation that includes a work permit. Applicants who have any criminal record should consult with us to check their eligibility – we have a criminal defense attorney available to ‘clean’ their record if necessary,” Paniotto said.

According to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), over half of the people who have participated in the program reside in California and Texas.

For more information on the legal implications regarding DACA, or to make a media inquiry, contact Paniotto Law 3550 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 1770, Los Angeles, CA 90010. (855) 743-0505.

Source: Paniotto Law

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December 15, 2020
$2 Million in Scholarships for DREAMers Announced on Going Merry

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Going Merry has partnered with Golden Door Scholars to provide access to $2 million in scholarships for DACA students nationwide

Press Release
–

updated: Oct 18, 2018

SAN FRANCISCO, October 18, 2018 (Newswire.com)
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Going Merry, a platform which helps students apply to all of their scholarships from one place, has announced $2 million in scholarships for DREAMers across the nation. The Golden Door Scholarships, provided by the Golden Door Scholars organization, will be awarded to 50 students and worth up to $40,000 each. The deadline for applications is Oct. 25, 2018. Students can apply for the Golden Door Scholarships online through Going Merry.

Every year, 65,000 undocumented students graduate from high school, according to the Center for American Progress. Unfortunately, this is where education ends for many of them due to a lack of information on opportunities available to DACA students.

Our mission is to give every student equal access to life-changing education, and that includes DREAMers.

Charlie Maynard, CEO, Going Merry

“Our mission is to give every student equal access to life-changing education, and that includes DREAMers,” said Charlie Maynard, CEO of Going Merry. “Partnering with an organization like Golden Door Scholars allows Going Merry to play an important role in providing hope to over one million undocumented students in America.”

Scholarship recipients will receive funding to support tuition, room and board for a four-year degree at Golden Door partner schools and schools offering in-state tuition to students with DACA status. Scholarships will also be awarded on a case-by-case basis to students who have applied to or are interested in other colleges. Golden Door will match scholarship recipients to partner and other colleges based on student preference and school admission slot availability.

About Going Merry: Going Merry gives every student one place from which they can apply to all of their scholarships. We are a company founded by Stanford graduates who all relied on financial aid to pay for college. We make it easy for students to find and apply for scholarships and simple for scholarship providers to create and manage them. We come together from different backgrounds and skill sets but share the same mission: to give every student truly equal access to life-changing education.

Media Contact:

Chris Karnes
215-407-4739
ckarnes@goingmerry.com

Source: Going Merry

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October 18, 2018
AWH and DACA Time Team Up to Empower Dreamers With New Social Enterprise

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COLUMBUS, Ohio, February 20, 2018 (Newswire.com)
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AWH, a digital product consulting, user experience, and software development firm, today announced a client partnership with DACA Time, a Columbus social enterprise offering a secure online platform to ease the DACA application process for Dreamers.

According to Chris Slee, founder and Chief Product Officer at AWH, “We are pleased to work with DACA Time on their important social, and meaningful, project.” Slee continued, “Using technology to help others is a core value for AWH and this project highlights just one way we can pursue that value.”

At AWH, Be Great isn’t just a motto; it is important to us that we create products that positively impact people and the community – a mission much like that of the DACA Time team.

Ryan Frederick, Principal, AWH

In 2012, the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program was formed through an executive order by President Obama. This immigration policy allowed undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as minors to be protected from immediate deportation and to receive work authorization. DACA recipients, known as Dreamers, could request “consideration of deferred action” for a period of two years, which was subject to renewal.

However, for many Dreamers, like DACA Time co-founder, Nathali Bertran, the process is complicated and expensive, requiring applicants to complete complex forms by hand. Determined to eliminate this barrier, Bertran, along with fellow DACA Time co-founder, Brook Kohn, brought their frustration with the DACA application process to GiveBackHack Columbus, a 54-hour hack-a-thon that brings community members together to create and launch sustainable solutions for social impact.

Kohn and Bertran met with other participants and formed a team to transform their idea into a sustainable social enterprise. They were joined, among others, by Derek DeHart, a product manager at Cover-My-Meds, developer Nicholas Tietz, and designer Christopher Barr. Over the course of the weekend, the team was mentored by top social entrepreneurs, nonprofit leaders, and venture capitalists, and developed a working prototype. It was there that Ryan Frederick, AWH principal and GiveBackHack Columbus judge, met the DACA Time team. “They were in the early stages of formulating their purpose and solution. As a mentor at the event, I remember how passionate and committed the team was to helping Dreamers,” Frederick stated. DACA Time went on to win crowd favorite, as well as a prize package consisting of initial funding and in-kind services to continue product validation.

The team went on to participate in the SEA Change social enterprise accelerator and was awarded the top prize at the SEA Change pitch event, providing them with additional funding to support the development of the DACA Time product. Shortly after the pitch event, however, the Trump administration announced that it would end DACA and asked Congress to form alternative legislation. Unsure of where to go next, the DACA Time team connected with the Dreamer community to understand how they can best serve them during this time of uncertainty. According to Kohn, “We are advocates for change that will empower Dreamers. If DACA expires, an average of 915 Dreamers will lose protection from deportation every day.” He continued, “There is a huge public outcry for legislation that provides a permanent solution. Whether it’s DACA or a new immigration policy, we will be here for Dreamers looking to gain renewal status.”

With further insight into the needs of the Dreamer community – and a growing waiting list for the product – DACA Time began the search for a technology partner before ultimately selecting AWH to extend and evolve the functionality of the current web application. For both parties, the partnership felt like a natural fit. According to Derek DeHart, DACA Time co-founder and COO, “We have great respect for the work AWH has done in the community and are excited to partner with another Columbus company as we work together to make a nationwide impact.” Frederick echoed DeHart saying, “At AWH, Be Great isn’t just a motto; it is important to us that we create products that positively impact people and the community – a mission much like that of the DACA Time team.”

In addition to developing the DACA Time web application, AWH will build a new component to the existing application known as The Evidence Timeline. This feature will allow Dreamers to easily and securely upload documentation, such as school transcripts or bills, that proves they were in the United States during the time frame required for DACA eligibility. Once the application is completed and payment is processed, users can print out and submit their application and download all information for their records.

The DACA Time project is scheduled to complete in spring 2018. To learn more, please visit https://dacatime.com/.

About AWH

AWH is a 23-year old digital product consulting, user experience, and software development firm located in Dublin, OH. From startups to enterprise, we collaborate with clients to build great digital products through strong product management. Our team of experts helps organizations make product decisions driven and validated by customer/user focus and deliver products that solve high-value problems. Areas of expertise include user experience (UX), application and data architecture, APIs, data and analytics, Internet of Things (IoT), and artificial intelligence and machine learning. To learn more, please visit http://www.awh.net/.

Media Contact:
Caitlin Zucal

Marketing Coordinator, AWH

caitlin.zucal@awh.net

330-340-1431

About DACA Time

DACA Time is a low cost, simple, and secure DACA application platform. The nonprofit was formed in 2017 and is based in Columbus, OH.

Media Contact:

Brook Kohn

CEO, DACA Time

614-312-0090

brook@dacatime.com

Source: AWH

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February 20, 2018