The Obama administration is fighting to lift the freeze a federal judge placed on the president’s latest executive action on immigration. Obama will host a town hall Wednesday in Miami, in English and Spanish, to address his plan. Not familiar with DACA? Don’t worry. Quiz yourself and gain the knowledge you need to stay on top of the immigration debate.
Pew also estimates that there were 775,000 undocumented children from all countries living in the U.S. in 2012, down from its peak of more than 1.6 million minors seven years prior.
Initially, only undocumented immigrants who entered the country before their 16th birthday and before June 2007 were eligible for a two-year work permit and exempt from deportation. In 2014, the administration expanded DACA eligibility to allow undocumented immigrants who entered the U.S. before June 2012. Due to the recent court order, applications will not be be accepted for the expansion of DACA on Feb. 18 as originally planned.
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In total, there are an estimated 5 million people who could potentially benefit from President Obama’s executive action.
An application takes about 4-6 months to process.
Zamora is among 600,000 DREAMers who qualified for DACA since the program began in 2012.
The Texas Fedaral Court judge has until Wednesday to make a determination before the Department of Justice would escalates the issue to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.
The president has made immigration reform a top priority.
Federal agencies struggled to keep up with the influx of children caught by U.S. Border Patrol agents last year.
Amanda Sakuma contributed reporting.
Amanda Sakuma
Alicia Maule