Trump Administration Will Continue Immigration Relief for Young People under DACA

Late Thursday night, the Department of Homeland Security announced that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or “DACA,” will be continuing. This was a big question for the Trump administration, because throughout the presidential campaign, he promised to end DACA but more recently has expressed conflicting statements on the matter.

DACA allows immigrants to apply for temporary, renewable work authorization if they came to the United States before the age of 16, and before June 15, 2007, and were under the age of 31 when the program was announced by President Obama on June 15, 2012. Applicants also have to have graduated from high school or a GED program in the U.S. or be making progress towards a degree at the time of application.

This is a huge relief for many of our clients at the City Bar Justice Center’s Immigrant Justice Project.  Over 725,000 young people have been granted DACA status nationwide. In New York City, the Migration Policy Institute estimated in 2015 that as many as 230,000 young people were eligible for DACA, but many have been afraid to apply because of the risk that the program would one day be terminated and they would be put into deportation proceedings. With last night’s announcement, some of that fear is alleviated and the City Bar Justice Center encourages all immigrants who are not in status to get screened for relief, and see if they are eligible for DACA or more permanent immigration relief.

Need immigration relief? Call 311 and say “ActionNYC” or call the Immigrant Justice Project at (212) 382-6710.