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Undocumented immigrants in the Syracuse area can’t depend on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals after a district court prevented the federal government from accepting new applications.

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas issued an injunction in July stopping the federal government from administrating the DACA policy. According to the injunction, the Department of Homeland Security can continue to accept applications but cannot accept any initial requests.

The injunction states that, “DHS is hereby permanently enjoined from granting DACA status for any new applicants.”

Veronica Garcia, a staff attorney at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, said that the DHS’ United States Citizenship and Immigration Services now cannot follow the application process to completion because of the court’s decision.

“Technically, individuals who would be eligible for DACA could continue to submit their initial request,” Garcia said. “It’s almost like you’re sending in your request. USCIS will acknowledge that they accepted it, but they won’t do anything about it while this court order remains in effect.”

The injunction states that hundreds of thousands of individual recipients have come to depend on the DACA program, and so it would not be “equitable for a government program that has engendered such significant reliance to terminate suddenly.”

In March 2020, more than 640,000 DACA recipients were active, according to the USCIS, just over 28,000 of whom live in New York state.

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Marisol Estrada Cruz, a DACA recipient and second-year student at Syracuse University’s College of Law, said that the ruling could be devastating for some people in the undocumented community who may not have previously been eligible.

“You sort of feel like you’re trapped (without DACA), and you can only do what you have to if you’re in survival mode,” Estrada Cruz said. “You can’t necessarily try to thrive and contribute.”

In order to qualify for the DACA application process, an immigrant to the U.S. must be over 15 years old but not over 31 years old, as of June 15, 2012, according to the USCIS website. They must also have arrived in the U.S. before turning 16.

An immigrant requesting protection under DACA must have continuously resided in the U.S. since June 15, 2007 and have had no lawful status on June 15, 2012. DACA applicants were also required to be in school, have graduated high school, have a general education development certificate — known as a GED — or be an honorably discharged veteran of the U.S. Coast Guard or the U.S. Armed Forces.

Applicants could not have been convicted of a felony, a significant misdemeanor, three or more other misdemeanors or otherwise “pose a threat to national security or public safety,” the website said.

Undocumented immigrants who had been waiting until they turned 15 to fulfill all of these requirements are now being told that avenue may be closed, Estrada Cruz said.

“Even if you just became eligible, and you meet all the requirements because you just now turned 15, you’re not going to be able to obtain that work permit, or a nine-digit number that gives you the freedom to live your life without fear of deportation,” Estrada Cruz said. 

The journeys and stories for undocumented immigrants are always different, Estrada Cruz said, meaning there is no real blanket solution for what they can do next.

Now that the court injunction has stopped the federal government from accepting DACA requests, undocumented immigrants should check their legal recourses for something more permanent,  Garcia said.

“Something that individuals who would have been eligible for DACA but don’t have a right (to DACA) now (should do) is definitely make sure that they get screened by an immigration attorney … to see if they were qualified for a more permanent solution, something that would lead to a green card,” Garcia said.

While the situation may look bleak, advocacy is strong in the U.S. for a pathway to citizenship for people stuck in limbo, Garcia said.

In 2016, Chancellor Kent Syverud signed a letter expressing support for the DACA program as it faced challenges from the Trump administration. 

Because of DACA, educational institutions have “seen the critical benefits of this program for our students and the highly positive impacts on our institutions and communities,” the letter reads. Hundreds of schools across the country signed the letter.

Misconceptions about undocumented immigrants don’t make it any easier to protect their safety in the country, Estrada Cruz said. Often, DACA recipients are immigrants who tried to follow the complicated legal systems, she said.

“A lot of people say that DACA recipients are children who cross the border. That’s not true,” she said. “DACA recipients can also be people who entered this country lawfully with the visa and overstayed. A lot of people don’t talk about that.”

Ever since becoming a DACA recipient in 2013, Estrada Cruz has been able to renew every two years. Renewal applications used to be processed within three months, she said, but now she’s concerned that the renewal process will take upwards of 10 months. Estrada Cruz said if she didn’t have DACA, her feeling of protection would not have existed.

Syverud created a committee at SU devoted to inclusion and diversity for undocumented students in 2017 following Trump’s challenge to the program.

The university also offers resources such as legal counsel and advising options for undocumented students, said Sarah Scalese, senior associate vice president for university communications, in an email to The Daily Orange. While SU remains supportive of undocumented immigrant students, its capability to help is limited, her email said.

“Undocumented students are not catalogued or otherwise identified by the university and unfortunately, will, for the time being, live with continued uncertainty until Congress acts,” Scalese’s email said.

Published on September 15, 2021 at 12:53 am

Contact Richard: rcperrin@syr.edu | @richardperrins2