The Obama administration announced Thursday that immigrants can immediately begin applying for extensions of their deportation deferrals and work permits under a controversial program that started nearly two years ago.
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program applies to immigrants who were illegally brought to the U.S. as children, who have attended school here and who have not been convicted of any felonies. Since it went into effect in 2012, the program has granted two-year deportation deferrals to 553,197 people, according to federal figures through March 31. Of those, 17,356 live in Georgia.
The government is recommending people apply for their renewals — with a new form announced Thursday — four months before their approvals expire. First-time applicants are still welcome.
Critics of the program say it amounts to an illegal end run around Congress. Supporters say the program is a humanitarian way to deal with children who did not make the choice to come here illegally and who would struggle if they were sent back to their home countries.
“Despite the acrimony and partisanship that now exists in Washington, almost all of us agree that a child who crossed our border illegally with a parent, or in search of a parent or a better life, was not making an adult choice to break our laws, and should be treated differently than adult law-breakers,” U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said in a prepared statement Thursday.
Osvaldo Flores of Union City has received a deportation deferral through the program and plans to apply for a renewal soon. Flores, who was illegally brought from Mexico to the U.S. when he was 3 years old, is glad the Obama administration is extending the program, though he would like to see it expanded to parents without legal status in the U.S.
“It is still a step forward,” he said.
U.S. Rep. Robert Goodlatte, a Virginia Republican and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, criticized the extension of the “unilaterally created” program, saying it violates President Barack Obama’s “constitutional duty to enforce the law.”
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