Because of recent court injunctions that have resurrected portions of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, young immigrants are now able to reapply for a two year extension of their protections, which allow them to keep working and living in the U.S. While it’s a temporary lifeline, it’s a lifeline nonetheless.
But, because United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is asking immigrants to reapply at least 120 days before their DACA expiration date, they could be fall into a treacherous gap where their protections lapse as they wait for their renewal approval. This doesn’t just mean a loss of a work permit, it means loss of protection from deportation.
Now, a number of leading Senate Democrats and immigration experts are urgently calling on Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen to protect DACA recipients by speeding up the renewal process:
With court challenges continuing, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (Nev.) and other Democrats on Wednesday asked the Department of Homeland Security to expedite the renewal applications of immigrants who have reapplied to remain part of the program. In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, they estimate that about 20,000 immigrants have seen their DACA status expire since the fall and are “vulnerable to the threat of detention and deportation, and may have already lost jobs, drivers’ licenses, and educational opportunities.”
And it’s American businesses that stand to lose, too. “There is usually silence on the phone line when we tell a client they need to fire a rising star in the company," immigration law firm Berry Appleman & Leiden said. "Anyone who thinks this issue is going away just doesn’t understand how personal it is from the CEO on down.”
In addition to expediting renewals, legislators and advocates are also calling on USCIS to extend protections for current DACA recipients by 180 days, as was recently done for some Temporary Protected Status (TPS) recipients. The Center for American Progress:
In January, when USCIS published a notice in the Federal Register terminating temporary protected status (TPS) for approximately 200,000 Salvadoran nationals, effective September 9, 2019, it automatically extended for a period of 180 days the validity of all Employment Authorization Documents for Salvadoran TPS holders. Automatic extensions for TPS recipients are frequently used when the agency anticipates that it will be unable to process in a timely manner the volume of applications that will be coming in. This same process should also be applied for DACA recipients.
Historically, USCIS has had DACA renewal processing delays that have, on occasion, resulted in individuals experiencing gaps in coverage. But because the agency has long instructed DACA recipients to file for renewal well in advance of their expiration date these challenges have been more or less around the edges. Because the tens of thousands of DACA recipients set to lose protections in the months after March 6 were only recently given permission to file for renewal it is easy to anticipate that many or most of their applications will not be adjudicated before their current protections expire. If the administration is serious about protecting Dreamers while Congress hashes out legislation, USCIS should publish a notice in the Federal Register automatically extending protections, including work authorization, for DACA recipients whose protections are set to expire within the next 180 days. To encourage DACA recipients to file promptly for renewal, the agency can also make the extension contingent upon proof that a renewal application has been received by USCIS.
“As hundreds of thousands of DACA recipients were only recently given permission to file for renewal, as a result of the injunctions,” Senate Democrats continue, “we are concerned that many of these applications will not be adjudicated before these recipients’ current protections expire. DACA recipients are at risk of losing their jobs and deportation if their status expires”:
Cortez Masto, along with Sens. Richard J. Durbin (Ill.), Kamala D. Harris (Calif.), Mazie Hirono (Hawaii) and Robert Menendez (N.J.), also asked DHS for information on exactly how many renewal applications it has received, how many have been renewed and typically how long the process is taking for applicants. These lawmakers and immigrant activists have complained for several months about delays and a lack of clear instructions on how the renewal process will be handled amid court challenges.
“Until the administration takes steps to actually protect Dreamers rather than place them in jeopardy and sabotage bipartisan efforts to provide permanent legislative relief,” tweeted Tom Jawetz of the Center for American Progress, “their sad attempts to shift blame to Democrats will fail bigly.”