WASHINGTON,
USA, Friday August 17, 2012 — Thousands of illegal Caribbean immigrants stand
to benefit from a new immigration programme that will allow them to avoid
deportation and obtain work permits in the United States.
On
Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced details of
documents that illegal immigrants would need to prove that they are eligible
for the Obama administration's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. The
announcement came a day before US Citizenship and Immigration Services began
accepting applications for the programme and sparked a rush to organize
paperwork by those eager to participate.
The
administration’s plan is to stop deporting many illegal immigrants who were
brought to the US as children. To be eligible, immigrants must prove they
arrived in the United States before they turned 16, are 30 or younger, have
been living in the US for at least five years and are in school or graduated or
served in the military. They also cannot have been convicted of certain crimes
or otherwise pose a safety threat.
According
to the guidelines announced on Tuesday, proof of identity and eligibility could
include a passport or birth certificate, school transcripts, medical and
financial records and military service records.
The
DHS said that in some instances, multiple sworn affidavits, signed by a third
party under penalty of perjury, could also be used. Anyone found to have
committed fraud will be referred to federal immigration agents, the department
said.
Alejandro
Mayorkas, director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, stressed that
being approved to avoid deportation "does not provide lawful status or a
path to citizenship."
The
paperwork for the program can be downloaded from the Immigration Services
website. Applicants must pay a $465 fee and provide proof of identity and
eligibility.
A
decision on each application could take several months, and immigrants have
been warned not to leave the country while their application is pending. If
they are allowed to stay in the United States and want to travel
internationally, they will need to apply for permission to come back into the
country, a request that would cost $360 more.
Advocacy
groups across the United States are planning events starting this week to help
immigrants fill out their applications and get all their paperwork in order.
The
Migration Policy Institute and the Pew Hispanic Center estimate that as many as
1.7 million people could be eligible to stay in the US and legally work under
the new policy.
DHS
officials have said repeatedly they don't have an estimate of how many people
may apply. In an internal document outlining the program's implementation,
officials estimated 1.04 million people would apply in the first year and about
890,000 would be eligible.
The
document, obtained by The Associated Press, estimated that the program could
cost between $467.7 million and $585.4 million. The department anticipated
collecting about $484.2 million in fees.
Hundreds
of thousands of illegal immigrants could unquestionably benefit from the
programme, which President Barack Obama announced in June. The programme is
beginning just months before what promises to be a tight contest for the White
House in which the Hispanic vote may play an important role.
Obama
has come under fire from Hispanic voters and others who say he hasn't fulfilled
a previous campaign promise to overhaul the nation's immigration laws. The new
policy could stop deportations for more than 1 million young illegal immigrants
who would have qualified for the failed DREAM Act, formally the Development,
Relief and Education of Alien Minors Act, which Obama has supported in the
past.
Republican
lawmakers have accused Obama of circumventing Congress with the new program in
an effort to boost his political standing and of favouring illegal immigrants
over unemployed US citizens.
SOURCE: http://www.caribbean360.com/index.php/news/607712.html#ixzz23wwXIN89
No comments:
Post a Comment