Here’s What DACA Recipients Need To Know About Work Permits And Deportation

U.S. Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, announced the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program on September 5, so what does this mean for recipients regarding work permits and deportation?

The program, established by then President Barack Obama in 2012, faced its biggest threat when 10 Attorney Generals threatened to pursue legal action if Donald Trump didn’t put an end to it.

Sessions gave a press conference on the matter, but it seemed to complicate the facts rather than clarifying them, as Sessions erroneously stated that DACA “denied jobs to hundreds of thousands of Americans by allowing the same jobs to go to illegal aliens.”

The U.S. Attorney General didn’t offer any logistics in the short press conference, leaving many recipients confused about when their protections would run out.

Jeff Sessions gave a very short press conference on September 5, where he wasn’t clear about the details on terminating the DACA program, nor gave any details on the process (photo: Time Magazine).

Thankfully, Vivian Yee, an immigration reporter for the New York Times, made a press phone call to the White House and gathered more details on the matter, breaking down the information that DACA recipients need to have on her Twitter account, here is the breakdown:

  1. DHS will process new DACA applications that have been received as of September 5 on a case-by-case basis, but won’t take any new ones.
  2. Applications for *renewing* DACA that have been received as of September 5 will be processed as usual.
  3. People whose DACA will expire September 5, 2017 and March 5, 2018, can still apply for renewal by Oct. 5. Renewal lasts for 2 years.
  4. DHS won’t strip DACA status from people who have it right now; they’ll keep it for the remainder of their 2-year period.
  5. In 2018, 275,344 people are set to have DACA expire. Of those, 7,271 have applied for DACA renewal.
  6. From Jan-Aug 2019, DACA will expire for 321,920 people. Of those, 8 have applied for renewal.
  7. ICE says they won’t target DACA holders; they’re still “prioritizing” criminals/people already ordered removed, BUT people who lose DACA will be treated like anyone else in the country illegally, putting them at risk of deportation under Trump.
  8. There’s lots of concern about ICE using DACA application data—addresses, names, etc—to go after them, but DHS says ICE won’t “proactively” get that data to target Dreamers, but can get it for national security/criminal investigations.
  9. They won’t say what the plan is if Congress doesn’t act in six months: “There’s no way to know what we’ll be doing in 6 months.”
  10. The impact on DACA holders currently serving in the military is unclear; DHS stated that the Department of Defense needs to be asked.
  11. All of these deadlines apply to work authorizations, too. They go hand-in-hand with DACA status.
Authorities have failed to make clear statements about the future of nearly a million Dreamers under DACA, stating “There’s no way to know what we’ll be doing in 6 months,” while people take to the streets to protest the decision (photo: Getty Images).

Immigrant rights groups still worried about dreamers’ futures. “We will fight the Trump mass deportation agenda,” said a statement from the United We Dream organization. “Immigrant families are beautiful and strong, this is their home and they are #HereToStay!”

Unauthorized immigrants and other protesters gathered in front of the White House to voice their frustration on Tuesday and other protests are expected across the country.