DACA recipients rush to meet deadline to renew protected immigration status

Approximately 36,000 undocumented immigrants nationwide whose work permits and protection from deportation will expire in the next five months had yet to renew their deferred status by Thursday, the deadline for doing so, federal immigration officials said. 

Katherine Tichacek, a New York-based spokeswoman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said approximately 60,000 people had filed requests to renew their two-year protected status under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program since Sept. 5, when Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the end of the program.

In canceling the Obama-era program, the Trump administration said that immigrants who were brought to the country as children and whose protections under DACA expire by March 5 would have until Thursday to file applications for renewal.

Tichacek said an additional 58,000 renewal requests were received prior to Sept. 5. Of those applications, she said 1,000 have been approved, and 57,000 were pending as of Sept. 7. 

Those numbers mean that 36,000 — or 24 percent — of the approximately 154,000 immigrants whose DACA status expires between Sept 5. and March 5 were in danger of missing the deadline to renew and could soon be vulnerable to deportation.

Renewal applications were being accepted until midnight Thursday, Tichacek said. 

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Bruna B. Bouhid, a spokeswoman for United We Dream, a national immigrant-led youth organization with 55 affiliates in 26 states, said the Thursday deadline was "cruel and unnecessary." 

"There was no reason for 154,000 people to have to submit an application within a month when in the past they have been given three months,'' Bouhid said. "He made young people scramble to get these applications in."  

She said that Thursday's deadline makes it even more imperative for Congress to pass legislation that will give DACA recipients a path to citizenship. 

Randi Mandelbaum, distinguished clinical professor of law at Rutgers Law School in Newark, said there could be a number of reasons people didn't renew. 

"I would be guessing if I answered that question.There are several possibilities, it could be fear, it could be that they had a better path for a green card or citizenship,'' she said. "We just don't know." 

She said there are also likely to be last-minute filers who were sending their applications overnight on Wednesday night and who may not have been included in the latest USCIS figures. 

Bouhid, of United We Dream, said that some may have been deterred from applying out of fear, and also because the $495 cost of renewal was prohibitively high.

"The fee is expensive, and many immigrant youth who are students or work low-wage jobs have to save for months in order to pay for it,'' she said. 

United We Dream gave out 1,367 scholarships to DACA recipients, also called "Dreamers," to cover the  renewal fee, as well as $15 for expedited mailing, Bouhid said. 

'Dreamers' lobby Congress

Nearly 800,000 immigrants nationwide have applied and received deferred status under the program since 2012. About 689,000 are currently active in the program, including around 17,400 from New Jersey, according to USCIS figures. 

Under the program, undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children can receive work permits and two-year protection from deportation after passing a background check. Those who receive the deferred status must have no criminal record and be able to prove that they are either in school, have a high school diploma or have been honorably discharged from the military.

On Thursday, four New Jersey DACA recipients were among nearly 150 “Dreamers” who lobbied Congress to pass legislation giving them permanent legal status. The meetings, held in Washington, were organized by FWD.us, a national organization whose mission is to mobilize the tech community to support immigration and criminal justice reform. 

Elizabeth Vilchis of Ridgefield Park said she was encouraged by her meetings with legislative staff members in the offices of three Republican congressmen, including Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen of Morristown..

“I’m actually very happy the way it turned out,’’ said Vilchis, who met with the state's Democratic Senators, Robert Menendez and Cory Booker, on Wednesday. “I think that they were unaware of the real impact that this is going to create within the state and within their district, and how we are going to start seeing the changes as people lose their ability to work.”  

Darren Maloney, director of legal services for Catholic Family and Community Services in Paterson, said he helped fill out a couple of renewal applications in the last  month but didn't have a rush.

"We checked all of our clients. ... We had two people, and we already had them in the works, and we got one out right away, and we got our last one out last week, and we made sure to overnight it,'' he said. 

He said he has a few clients whose deferred status expires a few days after March 5. 

"I just try to quell their fears,'' he said. 

Email: alvarado@northjersey.com