DHS Issues Directive Announcing Deferred Action Process For Qualifying Youth
On June 15, 2012, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano announced that the agency will begin permitting certain qualifying young people who are low enforcement priorities to apply for and be granted deferred action from removal in renewable increments of two years.
Low enforcement priorities include those individuals who are deemed not to pose a threat to national security or public safety, and would exclude individuals with certain criminal convictions (e.g., violent crimes, felonies, significant and/or multiple misdemeanors), as well as those who have been found to repeatedly violate the U.S. immigration laws.
Deferred action is considered a prosecutorial grant of temporary relief from removal as opposed to a lawful status, as DHS has stated that the power to grant a pathway to legalization rests with Congress. It has not placed a limit on the number of times an individual would be able to reapply for additional two-year grants of deferred action, and has also stated that each grant of deferred action will include the right to apply for an Employment Authorization Document (EAD). The EAD would also need to be renewed with each new grant of deferred action, and the applicant would have to demonstrate an economic need in order to obtain the EAD extension.
This announcement represents a bold move for the Obama Administration, which has, as of yet, been unsuccessful in persuading Congress to pass the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act or DREAM Act. This legislation would provide conditional legal permanent resident status and a path to citizenship to certain qualifying undocumented individuals who came to the U.S. as children and who wish to attend college or join the military. Unlike the proposed DREAM Act, the DHS deferred action directive does not provide a path to permanent residence and citizenship.
Individuals who wish to apply for deferred action under this new policy must meet the following eligibility criteria:
The DHS has further stated that both U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) may take sixty (60) days from June 15th to begin implementing a process for effecting this new directive. USCIS has provided detailed information on its website regarding the requirements and has stated that no requests for deferred action pursuant to this directive should be filed until it announces the official procedure sometime after the sixty-day mark.
To read Secretary Napolitano’s announcement, visit the DHS website here, and to read more about this new policy, visit the USCIS website here.
